Samuel Eto’o, the President of the Cameroon Football Federation, has apologised for physically assaulting a man at the World Cup on Monday.
In a statement on his Twitter handle on Tuesday, Eto’o said he was provoked by a fan who was “probably” an Algeria supporter as part of an ongoing harassment following Cameroon’s qualifying win over Algeria in March.
Part of his apology read, “After the Brazil-South Korea match, I had a violent altercation with a person who was probably an Algerian supporter.
“I would like to apologise for losing my temper and reacting in a way that does not match my personality. I apologise to the public for this unfortunate incident.”
Algeria filed a complaint over the performance of the referee in the qualifying play-off in Blida on March 28, in which Cameroon’s Karl Toko Ekambi scored the winner with the last kick of the match.
The shocking footage emerged online on Monday evening of the football legend and current Cameroon FA president attacking a man outside a stadium at the World Cup in Qatar.
The clip shows Eto’o leaving Stadium 974 in Doha, having just watched Brazil romp to victory against South Korea in their round-of-16 match.
At first, Eto’o appears happy to pose for photos with waiting fans as he makes his way out of the venue, before a man with a video camera approaches him to his right.
The footage, filmed by La Opinion, then seemingly shows the pair exchanging words, before the video cuts to a few seconds later, and Eto’o returning to the scene to confront the man and began pushing him
At this point, various onlookers step in to try and quell the disruption, but Eto’o is set on chasing the man and eventually has to be held back as he continues to try and confront him.
With four men holding Eto’o back, the footage then shows him giving his phone to a man, before breaking out of the huddle to knee the man in the face, knocking him to the ground.
