David Pagou is getting down to business. The Indomitable Lions head coach has called a press conference for Monday 7 September at 11 a.m., at the Fecafoot headquarters, to unveil the squad for the September-October international window. He is no newcomer in the role: appointed in an emergency in late 2025 to replace Marc Brys, three weeks before the Cup of Nations, he took Cameroon to the quarter-finals, beaten 2-0 by hosts Morocco. Monday's list, this time, opens the 2027 Cup of Nations qualifiers.
The programme is dense and competitive from the off. Cameroon host Comoros on 24 September for matchday one of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, then travel to Brazzaville to face Congo on the 29th. A high-profile friendly against Ivory Coast closes the window on 3 October. Three fixtures to open a qualifying run played over a short format that leaves little room for error.
He will have to do it without his most recognisable figure. André-Frank Zambo Anguissa announced his international retirement on 31 August, aged 30, after nearly a decade and 67 caps in the Cameroon shirt. The Napoli midfielder takes with him a rare box-to-box profile, able on his own to break lines and hold a midfield together. That gap will not be filled position for position.
Carlos Baleba looks like the natural heir. At 22, the Cameroonian anchorman has just signed for Manchester United — a deal completed on 25 August for £65m plus £5m in add-ons — where he links up with Bryan Mbeumo. Martin Hongla, more defensive-minded, would naturally complete the midfield alongside him.
One name is worth watching closely: James Eto'o. No relation to Samuel, he is James Armel Eto'o Eyenga, born 19 November 2000 in Yaoundé. Schooled at Nantes, then via Boulogne and Botev Plovdiv — with whom he won the Bulgarian Cup in 2024 — he has spent the past two years at CSKA Sofia, wearing number 99, with close to 180 league appearances to his name. His only cap came on 6 June 2025 against Uganda, when he went off injured after sixteen minutes. At 1.88m and box-to-box like Zambo, he fits the exact profile left vacant — and is waiting for his second chance.
Up front, Bryan Mbeumo has nothing left to prove. Signed by Manchester United in the summer of 2025 for more than £70m after a 20-goal Premier League season with Brentford, he has become the squad's most valuable Lion and the attack's natural focal point. Vincent Aboubakar, by contrast, remains a question mark: left out of the 2025 Cup of Nations, the long-serving captain now has to win over Pagou against younger competition — Karl Toko Ekambi, Georges-Kévin Nkoudou, Frank Magri.
In goal, all eyes are on André Onana. The goalkeeper, also absent from the 2025 Cup of Nations, is starting a second loan season at Trabzonspor: the move was renewed on 3 July, with no buy option, while he still has two years left on his Manchester United contract. A successful first season in Turkey — 33 matches, a Turkish Cup won — argues for his recall, in a position where Devis Epassy, Fabrice Ondoa and Simon Ngapandouetnbu shared duties in his absence.
The defence, for its part, is unlikely to change much. Jean-Charles Castelletto, Christopher Wooh and Enzo Ebosse hold the centre; Nouhou Tolo on the left, and Olivier Mbaizo or Collins Fai on the right, complete an already settled hierarchy. It is the area where Pagou has the fewest calls to make.
That leaves the coach's own room for manoeuvre. An assistant promoted in a hurry, backed by Alexandre Belinga and Martin Ntoungou, David Pagou earned credit with that quarter-final, but still has to prove himself over time, in the middle of a generational transition and without his playmaker-in-chief. This list will say which project he really stands for.
The first test, on 24 September, has a precedent worth recalling. In the round of 16 at the 2021 Cup of Nations, Comoros held their own against hosts Cameroon before losing 2-1, reduced to ten men from the 7th minute, with an outfield defender, Chaker Alhadhur, thrown into goal. Youssouf M'changama still found the net from a free kick beyond thirty metres. The Lions have been warned.
