North West Region team, Yong Sport Academy of Bamenda is set to get relegated to the second division football championship for the first time since gaining topflight status some 16 years ago. The club’s relegation case got almost settled after two major twists occurred in the MTN Elite One competition over the weekend and yesterday Monday May 26.
The club suffered a 1-0 defeat to Colombe of Dja and Lobo at the Military Stadium in Yaounde on Sunday. The loss left the outfit totaling 16points after 25 matches, with five rounds of matches to the end of the campaign. The result meant the club will be relegated to the second division if it fails to win its next match. However, things took a more difficult turn for the team yesterday. The homologation committee of the Cameroon Football Federation, FECAFOOT, in a ruling on Monday, deducted three points from the club’s total 16 points as punishment for failing to show up for one of its recent league matches.
The deduction entails the Bamenda team is mathematically confirmed to be relegated to the second-tier championship. This is because the club will not be able to garner enough points to escape the relegation zone before the season ends even if its wins all its five remaining matches. YOSA is ranked rock-bottom on the tentative classification table with 13points. The point tally leaves the club sitting some 17points from relegation safety with just 15points left to play for in the last five matches of the campaign.
If YOSA ends up getting relegated, it will be the first time the club will be demoted from the topflight championship since its promotion over 15 years ago. YOSA which won the Cup of Cameroon in 2013, gained promotion to the Elite One championship in 2009 and has since maintained topflight status. The team is just one of three teams that have maintained that level of consistency in the league during that period, sharing the record with Coton Sport of Garoua and Union of Douala.
Colombe’s title victory delayed
In the top half of the league table, Monday’s declaration from the homologation committee also delayed Colombe of Dja and Lobo’s title victory. The South Region team had on Sunday, declared itself the winners of the 2024/2025 first division football championship campaign. This was after the team outsmarted Yong Sports Academy of Bamenda to create an impressive 16points-gap on the league’s tentative table with just five rounds of matches to the end of the season. Following the victory, Colombe increased its points count for the season to 62. The tally placed the outfit 16points ahead of second-placed Gazelle Football Academy of Garoua which has 46points after staging 26 of its matches and are left with just four matches to play before the campaign rounds up.
Record title holders, Coton Sport of Garoua who have played the same number of matches like the Colombe team, 25, held to the third positioned. With 44points in 25 matches, the 18-time Elite One championship title winners were sitting 18points behind the league leaders. The tally meant the team Coton Farmers’ were already knocked out of the title race as they could not cover up the gap from Colombe even if they won all their five remaining matches to harvest 15points to stage a later title race. But things took a different twist on Monday.
This was after the FECAFOOT homologation committee ruled that two of the team’s matches will be replayed against Stade Renard of Melong and Bamboutos of Mbouda. The two teams had failed to show up for the games for diverse reasons. The ruling meant Colombe looses six points on its points count, moving from 62 to 56points. The new point count means the club will need to wait for a few more days or weeks to be able to confirm its league title.
Colombe on verge of entering golden books
The 2024/2025 crown will be Colombe’s first ever topflight championship title in Cameroon if the team succeeds to finally get through with the league title. The team which has completely dominated Cameroonian domestic club football in the last 12 months, will also become the first ever club from the South Region to emerge as the champion of the topflight championship since its introduction close to seven decades ago. The league crown will come just a few months since the team defeated Aigle of Menoua in the final of the 2024 Cup of Cameroon to enter the books as the first ever team from the South Region to win the national football challenge cup trophy over 64 years ago.
Colombe has won a mouthwatering total of 17 of its 23 matches in the competition this term. The team has conceded just 10 goals this season, the lowest by a club this season.
