Gabon captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has announced that he is stepping back from the national team, saying he felt “humiliated” by his exclusion and subsequent reinstatement after the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.
The top scorer in the history of the Panthers was singled out by the Gabonese government as responsible for the AFCON failure.
“They humiliated and smeared me even though I played at the AFCON while injured,” the 37-year-old said in a television interview.
“This is the last straw, and I’d rather stop here.”
Gabon were eliminated from the AFCON in the group stage after three defeats, the last of which came against Ivory Coast.
“It’s a part of our national identity that has been weakened,” Gabonese President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema said at the time.
The government fired the coaching staff, suspended the team until further notice and sidelined Aubameyang and 38-year-old Bruno Ecuele Manga.
The suspension of these veteran mainstays of the squad sparked a wave of outrage among Gabonese supporters.
“I think the team’s problems run much deeper than the little person that I am,” said Aubameyang who was one of Europe’s top strikers during his time at Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal.
The Gabonese striker has set himself what is likely to be a final challenge in Europe, leaving Marseille to join Deportivo La Coruna, who have just returned to La Liga after a long spell in the wilderness.
Gabon’s new national team coach, Sebastien Migne, will now have to plan without Aubameyang as he prepares his team for their first qualifiers later this month for next year’s AFCON.
Gabon are in Group A with World Cup quarter-finalists Morocco as well as Niger and Lesotho.
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