Gabon football coach named by the BBC in the FIFA forbidden sexual abuse report

More must be done to make Gabonese football more secure, the union of FIFPRO players said after a former youth coach convicted for the sexual abuse of players received a life prohibition by the World Football Body, FIFA.

On Tuesday, FIFA decided that Patrick Assoumou Eyi, who has been the head coach of national youth teams for decades, has sexually abused several young boys throughout his career.

Eyi had been named in a 2023 BBC Africa Eye Investigation on the large -scale accusations of abuses affecting gabonez football.

During the investigation, a former international Gabonese said that Eyi held the “position of a god”, because he had the power to decide who will play for Gabon’s youth teams.

Eyi – widely known as Capello – was “only one of several people in Gabon football who exploited their power with impunity,” FIFPRO said in a statement on Wednesday.

Although the Union welcomed the FIFA decision to prohibit the former coach from all football activities, he said that football in the African Central Country will not be safe until “all the perpetrators and those who allowed them are brought to justice.”

Eyi acknowledged charges of rape, care and exploitation of young players, after the UK was reported by the UK first Tutor newspaper in 2021.

FIFA’s independent ethics committee launched the EYI investigation later that year.

In addition to being forbidden for life, Eyi was fined with one million Swiss francs (880,000 pounds; $ 1.1 million). He is currently held in prison.

“The investigation into Mr. Eyi refers to complaints from at least four male football players who accused him of sexual abuse between 2006 and 2021. Most of these incidents took place while the players were minor,” FIFA statement said.

One of Eyi’s alleged victims, who wanted to remain anonymous, the BBC said on Wednesday that he was satisfied with the prohibition.

“But, on the other hand, I am not satisfied because I do not want to stop there. It is a whole network, a system that needs to be disassembled, with many predators running for free,” they said.

In 2023, BBC Africa spoke to several that 30 witnesses who told about a sexual abuse network that has affected all Gabon football levels for three decades.

A victim said she was abused as a teenager in a football camp under 17. Another, who played for Gabon’s national team for several years, said he was assaulted since the age of 14.

Along with the perpetrators of abuses, management organs such as FIFA and the National Football Federation in Gabon, Fegafoot, were confronted with accusations that they had not been able to protect young victims.

Both bodies denied the accusations made against them.