Aubameyang Banned As Gabon Government Suspends National Team After AFCON Exit

Gabon’s Sports Minister, Simplice-Desire Mamboula, has announced sweeping sanctions following the national team’s poor outing at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), including the suspension of the entire squad, the dismissal of the coaching crew, and the banning of senior players Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Bruno Ecuele Manga.

The decision came after Gabon suffered a dramatic 3–2 defeat to the defending champions, the Ivory Coast national football team, on Wednesday, with Bazoumana Toure scoring the injury-time winner. The loss sealed Gabon’s third defeat in as many Group F matches, leaving the Panthers bottom of the group behind Ivory Coast, Cameroon, and Mozambique.

“Given the Panthers’ disgraceful performance at the AFCON, the government has decided to dissolve the technical staff, suspend the national team until further notice, and remove players Bruno Ecuele Manga and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang,” Mamboula said during a televised address late Wednesday.

The video of the announcement was briefly taken down from official platforms hours after airing before being reposted on Thursday.

Gabon’s AFCON campaign had already come under review by the Council of Ministers following Sunday’s 3–2 loss to 102nd-ranked Mozambique, a result that confirmed the team’s failure to reach the knockout stage. Aubameyang subsequently returned to his French club, Marseille, citing a thigh injury.

Reacting to the situation, President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema described the team’s showing as damaging to the country’s image. “This has weakened part of our national identity,” he said in an official statement released on Wednesday. He added that the national team’s struggles revealed “a lack of method and the dispersion of resources,” and promised “strong and structural decisions” to restore discipline and ambition in sports governance.

However, the government’s intervention could attract sanctions from FIFA, which prohibits state interference in the management of its member football associations.