The 2025 Cameroon Volleyball Cup wrapped up in style, and federation president Bello Bourdane couldn’t hide his joy. Speaking to local reporters after the finals, he painted a picture of a sport moving in the right direction.
“I’m a happy president,” Bourdane said with a wide smile. “We hit all our targets this season at the national level. We finished everything we set out to do.”
The numbers back up his confidence. Cameroon now has national champions in both men’s and women’s divisions, plus cup winners. More importantly, they stuck to their schedule and met all the international federation deadlines.
“This day marks the start of our international competitions,” Bourdane explained. “I’m thrilled with the quality of play we’ve seen all season long. The championship finals were fantastic, and these cup finals were just as good.”
Building a Volleyball Family
What got Bourdane excited wasn’t just the scores on the board. He talked about seeing real progress in the game and how players put on a show for fans.
“I’m happy to see our volleyball family growing closer,” he said. “All these passionate fans came out to support us, even with some negative talk going around. We keep moving forward, and we’re proud of what we’ve done. But we’re not getting comfortable because we know that to reach the top internationally, our athletes need to be at a very high level.”
The president has his eyes on the future. He wants to develop a new generation of young players who can meet the standards needed to compete at the highest levels.
Big Challenge Ahead
The domestic season might be over, but the real test is coming. Cameroon will host the U20 Women’s Championship, and they just brought in a new coach for the women’s team.
“I want to thank our head of state for giving us the green light to organise this youth championship,” Bourdane said. “We’ve already seen some of these young athletes today, and we hope that by hosting this competition, we can win it too.”
The stakes are high. This tournament isn’t just about regional bragging rights – it’s a qualifier for the 2026 U21 World Championship. That means Cameroon has two goals: win the cup and punch their ticket to the world stage.
Fresh Start with New Coach
The decision to bring in a new coach wasn’t made lightly. After looking back at 2023 and the African championships, Bourdane and his team decided they needed a change.
“We did some soul-searching after 2023 and realized we needed a new mindset and fresh training methods,” he explained. “We had to fix what went wrong at the senior level because we had a really talented group of players, even with some dropouts who could have helped train the young ones today.”
The new coach brings something specific to the table – experience in managing the emotional side of volleyball. While he’s there for the senior team, he’ll also keep a close eye on the U20 squad.
Both teams will head to training camp at Japoma at the same time to get ready. This setup will help the national coach sort through the professional players and local talent. After that, the selected players will travel to Brazil for an internal training camp where they’ll face some of Brazil’s best teams before heading to Thailand for the World Championship.
Coach Already at Work
Don’t think the new coach is starting from scratch. Bourdane made it clear that preparation began before the coach even arrived in Cameroon.
“He got videos of all the finalist teams and attended several of their training sessions,” Bourdane said. “He’s already been working. I can promise you that by tomorrow evening at the latest, you’ll have his list of pre-selected players who will enter the Japoma training camp.”
During the finals, fans could see the coach taking notes, studying players, and getting a feel for what he’s working with. It’s the kind of attention to detail that gives Bourdane confidence about what’s coming next.
