Gabon football coach from BBC in the sexual abuse report banned by FIFA

More needs to be done to make Gabonese football safer, and the Union Fifpro player said after a former youth coach who was convicted of sexual abuse of players had been banned from life by World Football, FIFA.

On Tuesday, FIFA decided that Patrick Assouumou Eyi, who had been head coach of Gabon's national youth teams for decades, had several young boy abused several young boys during his career.

Eyi was named in A 2023 BBC Africa Eye examination in the widespread allegations of abuse that plagued the Gabonesian football.

In the study, a former Gabonese international said that Eyi held the “position of God” because he had power to decide who would play for Gabon's youth teams.

Eyi – widespread as Capello – was “just one of several people in Gabonese football who has been impossible for her power,” said FIFPRO in a statement on Wednesday.

Although the union welcomed the decision of the FIFA to ban the former coach from all activities in connection with football, she said that football in the Central African country was not certain if “all perpetrators and those who made it possible are brought to trial”.

Eyi had admitted charges for rape, care and exploitation of young players after the Great Britain had reported allegations for the first time Guardian Newspaper in 2021.

The FIFA's Independent Ethics Committee later ceased its Eyi investigation this year.

Eyi was not only forbidden for a lifetime, but also a million Swiss francs (£ 880,000; $ 1.1 million). He is currently being held in prison.

“The examination of the Mr. Eyi concerns complaints from at least four male football players who accused him of sexual abuse between 2006 and 2021. Most of these incidents occurred while the players were minors,” says FIFA's explanation.

One of the alleged victims of Eyi who wanted to remain anonymous, said the BBC on Wednesday that he was pleased with the ban.

“But on the other hand, I am not satisfied because I don't want us to stop there. It is an entire network, a system that has to be broken down, with many predators running freely,” they said.

In 2023, BBC Africa spoke to more than 30 witnesses who told about a sexual abuse network that had affected all levels of Gabonese football for three decades.

A victim said he was abused as a teenager in a football camp under the age of 17. Another who played for Gabon's national team for several years said he was attacked from the age of 14.

Together with the perpetrators of the abuse, the management bodies such as FIFA and Gabons National Football Federation Fegafoot have accused themselves that they could not protect young victims.

Both corpses contest the allegations raised against them.