The announcement first came on state television on Sunday, December 31, shortly after the third defeat of the Gabonese selection in the 2025 African Cup of Nations (CAN). With a serious face, Simplice-Désiré Mamboula, the country’s interim minister of youth and sports, read a brief press release: “Given the dishonorable performance of the Panthers (…)the government decides to dissolve the technical staff, suspend the national team until further notice, and sideline players Bruno Ecuele Manga and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. »
Heavy penalties. But a few hours after the video was broadcast, it disappeared from the ministry’s digital platforms. To finally make his return, Thursday 1is January. However, no corresponding statement has yet been published on the government website.
Sealed even before the ultimate failure (2-3) against Ivory Coast, title holder, the early elimination of the Panthers from the CAN, experienced as a national humiliation, was transformed into a state affair. In the wake of the setback against Mozambique (2-3), on December 28, the subject was thus invited to the menu of the council of ministers. President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema also issued his press release.
The selection debacle “highlights two major problems which in reality reflect persistent structural shortcomings: the absence of method and the dispersion of resources”had judged the leader, before announcing his intention to take, “when the time comes”strong decisions to put an end to widely criticized governance of national sport. Inadequacies to which is added, according to Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, “a worrying erosion of the patriotic fiber”.
Aubameyang responds to criticism
Posted on X by an Internet user on what he thought of the situation and if he was ” the problem “ of the team, Olympique de Marseille striker and former Arsenal player, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, responded that “the problems (…) are much deeper than [s]a little person ». Discomforted in the thigh, the top scorer in the history of the Panthers did not play the last match against the Ivorians, having been made available to his club.
Quarter-finalist in the 1996 and 2012 editions, Gabon reached the eighth of CAN 2021. Having missed its qualification for the 2026 World Cup, in the United States, Mexico and Canada, the selection finds itself without a major international deadline in the coming months.
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