Former Chelsea and Newcastle United midfielder Nijtap Geremi – who is also a two-time Champions League winner with Real Madrid – has been banned from football for a five-year period by Cameroon’s FA and fined a total of £13,000.
Geremi, throughout his career, earned a whopping 118 caps for Cameroon – the joint-second most in the nation’s history – and he enjoyed plenty of success at club level, which included two English top flight titles with Jose Mourinho’s Blues.
Now 46 years of age, Geremi hung up his boots and retired in 2011 after leaving Greek outfit AR Larisa – but he’s now been banned from all football-related activity after falling out with footballing legend Samuel Eto’o, who is the President of the Cameroon FA.
The two-time Champions League winner found guilty by Cameroon FA
Once he had bid farewell to his playing days, the seasoned Geremi retained his ties with football, which included being involved with the National Union of Footballers of Cameroon – but that is no longer after receiving a five-year suspension.
That is because he clashed with one of the former Barcelona and Real Madrid line-leader Eto’o’s members of staff – with the feud dating back to 2023 during an African Cup of Nations clash in the Ivory Coast between Cameroon and Gambia.
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Reportedly, Geremi – who is among the players many fans forget played for Los Blancos – and the other figure had to be separated, and he was later removed from the stadium by security on the very blunt orders of FeCafoot officials.
Two years later after the altercation, the Cameroonian FA have decided to slap him with a ban of five years. Per Mail Online, a statement has claimed that Geremi, 46, didn’t adhere to their code of ethics and now has ten days to submit an appeal.
“We declare Geremi Sorel Njitap, the president of Synafoc, guilty of breaking the behaviour rules of our code of ethics. We sentence him to a ban from all forms of football activity for five years, and to a fine of ten million West African francs [£13,000]. He has ten days to submit a written appeal.”
It is believed that Geremi, who began his career in his homeland with RC Bafoussam, will launch an appeal, and he may even take his case to the Court of Abritration for Sport (CAS) in order to overrule the charges and drop the hefty £13,000 fine.
Alongside the former Middlesbrough and Ankaragucu ace, his assistant Daniel Blaise Ngos has also been slapped with a ban, though he has only been suspended for a two-year period alongside a fine of exactly half of Geremi’s: £6,500.
Geremi and Eto'o – who are both widely regarded as two of Africa's greatest-ever football players – were great pals during their respective careers, having played for Real Madrid alongside one another, all while representing Cameroon together. All in all, they shared the pitch on 85 different occasions.