The announcement first came on state television on Sunday, December 31, shortly after the Gabonese national team’s third defeat in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). With a grave expression, the country’s acting Minister of Youth and Sports read a brief statement: “Given the dishonorable performance of the Panthers (…), the government has decided to dissolve the technical staff, suspend the national team until further notice, and sideline players Bruno Ecuele Manga and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.”
These are severe sanctions. However, a few hours after the video was broadcast, it disappeared from the ministry’s digital platforms. Conversely, no corresponding statement has been published on the government’s website at this time.
Sealed even before the final defeat (2-3) against the title holders, Ivory Coast, the Panthers’ early elimination from AFCON, experienced as a national humiliation, has turned into a state affair. Following the loss to Mozambique (2-3) on December 28, the subject was added to the agenda of the council of ministers. The president also issued his own statement.
The national team’s debacle “highlights two major problems that actually reflect persistent structural shortcomings: a lack of method and the dispersion of resources,” the leader judged, before announcing his intention to take, “when the time comes,” strong decisions to end a governance of national sport that requires improvements. To these shortcomings, he added, is “a worrying erosion of patriotic spirit.”
Aubameyang Responds to Criticism
Asked on X by a user what he thought of the situation and if he was “the problem” with the team, Olympique de Marseille striker and former Arsenal player Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang replied that “the problems (…) run much deeper than [his] humble self.” Hampered by a thigh injury, the Panthers’ all-time top scorer did not play in the final match against the Ivorians, having been returned to his club.
A quarter-finalist in the 1996 and 2012 editions, Gabon reached the round of 16 in the 2021 AFCON. Having failed to qualify for the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, the national team now faces no major international fixtures in the coming months.