Overview
- Acting sports minister Simplice-Désiré Mamboula announced on national television that the Panthers are suspended, the coaching staff is dissolved, and veterans Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Bruno Ecuele Manga are removed from the squad.
- The broadcast of the announcement was later deleted from Gabon Télévision’s channels with no corresponding statement on government websites, creating administrative uncertainty.
- Gabon finished bottom of its group after three losses in Morocco, including a 3-2 defeat to Ivory Coast despite leading 2-0 against a largely second-string side.
- Aubameyang did not play the final match after returning to Olympique de Marseille for thigh treatment and wrote on X that the team’s problems go deeper than any one player.
- President Brice Oligui Nguema criticized the team’s management before the last game, and FIFA’s hard line on government involvement makes such interventions rare and likely to draw scrutiny.