Gabon's sports minister has announced the banning of veteran players Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Bruno Ecuele Manga, the suspension of the whole national team, and the sacking of the coaching staff following the Panthers' disastrous showing at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
An injury-time winner by Bazoumana Toure condemned Gabon to a 3-2 defeat against defending champions Ivory Coast at the AFCON on Wednesday.
A third consecutive defeat in as many outings ensured that they finished rock bottom of Group F, below heavyweights Ivory Coast and Cameroon, but also Mozambique.
"Given the Panthers' disgraceful performance at the AFCON, the government has decided to dissolve the technical staff, suspend the national team until further notice, and remove players Bruno Ecuele Manga and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang," minister Simplice-Desire Mamboula said on Gabonese television late on Wednesday.
A few hours after it was broadcast, the video clip of the announcement was removed from the ministry's official platforms and the channel's online platforms, before being republished on Thursday.
The national team's performance at the Africa Cup of Nations was reviewed by the Council of Ministers following Sunday's 3-2 defeat to 102nd-ranked Mozambique, which meant that Gabon could not progress to the knock-out stages.
Aubameyang returned to his French club Marseille in the wake of that defeat due to a thigh knock.
"This has weakened part of our national identity," Gabon's President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema said on Monday, as per an official statement released on Wednesday.
"The national team highlights two major problems: the lack of method and the dispersion of resources," he added.
The president promised "strong and structural decisions" to "restore rigour, responsibility and ambition in the governance of national sport".
That could, however, land Gabon in trouble with football's world governing body FIFA, which bans government interference in the affairs of its member associations.
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