The Belgian coach was appointed on 2 April by the Minister of Sports on the orders of the President of the Republic, Cameroon's long-serving President Paul Biya, who has been at the helm of the African nation since 1982 (the second longest serving non-monarchical leader after Equatorial Guinea's Teodoro Obiang).

His appointment has been described as "illegal" by the Cameroon Football Federation (FECAFOOT), which claims to be the only body authorised to appoint the national coach, although the power of the 91-year-old president appears to override the institutions.

Brys had been invited by Eto'o for a "working session" as Cameroon prepare for next month's World Cup qualifiers, but several members of his entourage, also appointed by the sports ministry, were denied entry to the FECAFOOT building in the capital, Yaoundé.

In a video filmed on Tuesday, the authenticity of which was confirmed to AFP by a FECAFOOT official, Eto'o can be seen vehemently confronting Brys.

It was the first time Eto'o had met Brys since he was appointed by the sports ministry without the involvement of the Cameroon Football Federation, leading to a clash between the two bodies.

The former Barcelona, Inter Milan and Chelsea star kicked a representative of the sports ministry out of the room and greeted Brys with a "welcome to your home!

According to AFP, there was a verbal altercation between the appointed Belgian coach and FECAFOOT president Samuel Eto'o.

When Brys entered the meeting after being asked to leave by the ministry's representative, he was confronted by an angry Eto'o, who said: "Either you stay or you go!

Brys then put his hand on Eto'o's arm, escalating the tension. "Don't touch me like that!" Eto'o snapped. "I am the president, Mr. Coach!" to which Brys replied, "I am the coach."

"No! You are a coach because I appointed you, you are not a coach because someone else appointed you," Eto'o retorted. "You have broken many things!"

At one point, the former striker shouted, "Don't talk to me like that, you sit down and we work, what is this mess!" The Belgian coach eventually left the room. "If you walk out that door, don't come back," Eto'o concluded in a threatening tone.

In a statement, FECAFOOT claimed that Brys, "before leaving the room, hurled insults and offenses at Eto'o," which were not recorded in the video.

The federation announced an urgent committee meeting as soon as possible to "make necessary decisions" and listed a series of breaches attributed to the Belgian coach.

Following a meeting of the emergency committee, it was decided to sack the coach appointed by Cameroon's president, Belgian Marc Brys, and appoint Martin Ndtoungou (who coached Cameroon at the 2008 Beijing Olympics) as interim coach ahead of next month's qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, according to a statement released by the organisation on Thursday.

Cameroon is historically the best African team, being the first African country to reach the quarter-finals of a World Cup (Italy 90), and defeating the defending champion in the opening match against Maradona's Argentina at the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium in Milan.

Cameroon has qualified for eight World Cup tournaments, more than any other African country in history. They are preparing for a new round of World Cup 2026 qualifying matches, hosting Cape Verde on 8 June and visiting Angola on 11 June 2024.

The Indomitable Lions beat Mauritius at home and drew away with Libya in their first two Group D qualifying matches last November under Rigobert Song, whose contract was not renewed after Cameroon was eliminated in the round of 16 at theAfrica Cup of Nations earlier this year.

Cameroon have four points from their first two qualifiers. Only the winners of each of the nine six-team groups will qualify automatically for the 2026 finals, with an extra place up for grabs through the play-offs.