The Indomitable lions journey to the AFCON officially kicked off in Morocco with their arrival at the Agadir Airport on December 19, 2025 from Casablanca where they had been in camp for about a week.
It was about midnight amidst freezing temperatures that the chartered jet taxied at the airport of the city that was going to be their base throughout the competition.
Cameroonian fans based in Morocco turned out to welcome the lions to the Agadir.
Head coach David Pagou on his first international expedition with the indomitable lions was accompanied by his selection of 28 players, a majority of them heading for their first AFCON experience.
The squad settled at their seaside residence at the Hyatt Regency in Tagazout, a fishing village in Morocco’s Atlantic coast, where they strategies far from the media to finetune the strategies ahead of their first match against Gabon.
During the pre-match press conference, media professionals anxiously awaited the first declarations for Coach David Pagou who had just take control of the squad a few days to the tournament. It was here that he the catch phrase, “Ndamba na for field” meaning football is on the pitch.x
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It was also during the pre-match training session at the Abdoulaziz Rifki stadium that the media caught a glimpse of the players during the 15 minutes window opened by CAF for the media. Three players also addressed the press in line with new CAF rules.
Then came the D-day on December 24, 2025, the 45,480 capacity Agrar stadium in Agadir situated on one of the plans of the Atlas mountain welcomed fans of the panthers of Gabon and the Indomitable lions of Cameroon. Fans gave screams of excitement during the warmup session leading to the game.
With the kick off given, supporter kept their fingers crossed praying for the lions to outrun their central African neighbour. Both sides squandered several opportunities until the lions took the edge from the goal from Karl Etta Eyong who scored the first goal for the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon.
With One goal up, the lions maintained control of the game without taking any damages. When the referee blow the final whistle it was Cameroon 1 and 0 for Gabon. Cameroon’s Bryan Mbuemo was awarded the Man of the match Award. Coach David Pagou in his calm tone told the press that the lions are in their own corner constructing their young team.
The lions continues their exploits four days later at the Marrakech stadium with a draw during the second group F game against title holders, the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire. The match was full of fireworks with Elephants opening score and the Lions equalizing less than three minutes after. With four points and two goals in two matches, team Cameroon automatically picked one of the qualification tickets for the knockout stage. With equal number of points as the Cote d’Ivoire both sides struggled for the top spot in third and final group game.
Coach David Pagou insisted on team work within his squad which he described as the youngest in the tournant.
On December 31, 2025, the lions were informed that the President of the Republic had move his end of year address to the nation by one hour earlier to honour the lions who had to play at 8pm. Motivated by the consideration, the players made Cameroonians proud by winning their game against, Mozambique and grabbing the man of the match award given to Christian Kofane.
The team that missed the qualification ticket to the World Cup, recruited a new coach without international experience just days to the competition came to the AFCON stronger than expected and surprised most sports pundits and predictions. The indomitable Lions are rewriting history and some coaches are already describing team Cameroon as the Surprise of the AFCON.
Elvis Teke
