PUMA and Cameroon will not renew: is it the end of an era?

It's confirmed: 2019 is a year of great revolutions in the African football, not only because of the African Cup of Nations that will start in June: Tunisia has signed with Kappa, Egypt will return to dress PUMA, while Umbro has started a very interesting acquisition campaign that concerns, at least for the moment, really minor Nationals like Botswana, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia. In the meanwhile Nigeria will continue to dress Nike until 2026 after the recent extension of the contract, the long idyll between PUMA and Cameroon seems close to an end.

The partnership between the German brand and the Indomitable Lions, which had been going on for more than 20 years (including four World Cups and an African Cup of Nations won), ended in fact on December 31, 2018, given that the bosses of the respective companies did not find the agreement to continue together, as stated by the president of FECAFOOT, Seidou Mbombo Njoya. The impossibility of renewing such a lasting contract seems to be the end of an era in which PUMA had strongly focused on the Central-African Nationals, reaching almost the monopoly of the best National teams: during the Africa Cup 2012 for example, in addition to Cameroon, PUMA was the official supplier of Ghana, Ivory Coast, Senegal, South Africa, Togo, Namibia, Gabon and Burkina Faso.

Of the long PUMA sponsorship, one of the longest running ever on the African scene, some products have remained virtually unforgettable as they embodied the stereotype of the Afro National: the sleeveless shirt worn by Eto'o & his teammates in 2002, the tribal jersey, the denim vest internally covered with fur, the unique all-in-one kit dating back to 2014 and the shirts depicting the lion, among which the modern one with which Cameroon played the 2018 World Championships in Russia.