In news that made football fans blink twice and check if it was April 1st, Gabon’s national football team has been disbanded. Yes disbanded. Not knocked out on penalties, not beaten 7–0 by a team of semi-professional plumbers, but officially told: “Lads, you are sacked.”
After a disappointing Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) campaign in Morocco, where Gabon lost all three group matches and went out without a single win, the government decided that they had seen enough.
(The team’s final game was especially dramatic. Gabon was up 2–0 against defending champions Ivory Coast and then somehow managed to lose 3–2 after conceding three goals in the second half. )
Acting Sports Minister Simplice-Désiré Mamboula delivered the bombshell on national television:
Coaching staff dissolved
Gabon’s national team suspended indefinitely
Captain Bruno Ecuele Manga and star striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang banned from selection
Because their performance was deemed “disgraceful.”
Aubameyang, Gabon’s all-time top scorer and a global football name,is facing premature retirement from his own country‘s team after decades of representing the Panthers.
FIFA’s official measured response, since world football rules don’t permit government interference in football associations,has been “wait ..what ? “