Cameroon鈥檚 separatist conflict drove pro soccer teams out. Why they鈥檙e back.
| Bamenda, Cameroon
On an afternoon in early April, the stands of the small soccer stadium here slowly fill with fans dressed in the blue and white jerseys of the home team, PWD Bamenda.
Vendors balancing trays of chips and bottled drinks on their heads weave between the red plastic seats as the two teams warm up on the pitch.
There is nothing remarkable about the scene and, for the people here, that鈥檚 exactly what makes it extraordinary. For the last decade, daily life in this part of Cameroon has been warped by a brutal conflict between the country鈥檚 government and a militia fighting for an independent state for Cameroon鈥檚 English-speaking minority. The conflict is the focus of Thursday鈥檚 visit to Bamenda by Pope Leo XIV, which also led separatists to declare a in fighting this week.
Why We Wrote This
The return of professional soccer to one part of Cameroon reflects cautious optimism about the future in a place upended by a decade of violent conflict between separatists and the government.
Among the many casualties of the fighting between the state and the separatists has been the region鈥檚 raucous soccer culture. Five years ago, attacks against coaches and players pushed local professional teams out of the region. This season, however, they are back home, a return that signals for many here a new optimism about the future 鈥� both on and off the soccer pitch.
鈥淔or a long time, [people] were mourning,鈥� explains Forti Forche Ndifor, head of the team鈥檚 fan club. 鈥淣ow, they are beginning to rejoice through football.鈥�
Sports under fire
The soccer stadium in Bamenda sits on ferociously contested land. This part of Cameroon was once under British rule, but it joined together with the neighboring territory of French Cameroon at independence. Though the newly independent Cameroon was ostensibly bilingual, Francophones were 80% of the population, and they quickly became the ruling elite.
In 2016, Anglophone anger over decades of marginalization spilled into the streets, as English speakers turned out to protest the appointment of hundreds of French-speaking judges and teachers in their regions. Police and the military cracked down violently. That, in turn, gave new momentum to a small band of armed men who had long called for an independent Anglophone state called Ambazonia. Soon, the government and the separatists were at war.
Since then, the fighting has driven people in Cameroon鈥檚 two English-speaking regions from their homes. Separatists have also shown their strength by shutting down entire towns and destroying institutions run by the government, from schools to hospitals to stadiums.
Soccer was not spared. The stadium of Bamenda鈥檚 two professional teams 鈥� Yong Sports Academy and PWD Bamenda 鈥� was in a 鈥渞ed zone,鈥� where separatists and soldiers routinely clashed. As a result, beginning in 2017, the teams and their opponents had to be escorted to games by the police.
Then, in March 2019, the teams鈥� worst fear came true when Yong Sports Academy coach Emmanuel Ndoumbe Bosso by gunmen while driving to training. He was released in less than 24 hours. But two weeks later, five armed men stormed the pitch during a PWD Bamenda practice and took that team鈥檚 coach at the time, Augustine Choupo, .
Conflict deepens
That period also marked the peak of the fighting between the Ambazonians and the government. The army thought to shelter separatists, raping and murdering residents. The insurgents, meanwhile, attacked police and soldiers, but also who refused to participate in their .
Designed to pressure the government, the education boycott was so successful that, by 2019, only in Anglophone Cameroon were still open, and some 600,000 children were out of school.
Yong Sports Academy fan Sama Rene was one of them. 鈥淢any of us thought [the rebellion] was something good that would really bring change,鈥� says Mr. Rene, who was never able to return to school. Losing his chance at an education, he says, soured him on the separatists鈥� cause.
As attacks and threats against the soccer teams continued, the league made the decision to move both teams out of Bamenda. Beginning in 2021, they played their home matches in cities in the neighboring Francophone region 鈥� a drive of up to two hours from their home city. Most fans were unable to make the journey.
鈥淭hat affects the team more than people think,鈥� says Tama Wango, the current head coach of PWD Bamenda.
For the next four years, the teams shuttled back and forth between practices in Bamenda and games in their new 鈥渉ome鈥� stadium. Meanwhile, in their actual home, the conflict simmered on. Every Monday, separatists made Bamenda a 鈥済host town,鈥� forcing all businesses to close, public transport to halt, and residents to stay home. Those who resisted were sometimes .
In 2022, a PWD Bamenda fan named Mary was kidnapped for selling beers brewed in the Francophone region and considered banned 鈥渇oreign鈥� products by the separatists. A ransom of 800,000 Central African CFA francs (about $1,500) secured her release.
The shop where the beers were sold 鈥渨as my only source of income, but I had to abandon it for my safety,鈥� says Mary, who is being referred to by her first name out of continuing fears for her security.
Coming home
Even as fighting continued, however, Bamenda鈥檚 two soccer teams were desperate to come home. Ahead of the 2025 season, they threatened to boycott the league if they could not play in their own stadium again. League organizers assented, but the season had barely begun when, in February 2025, armed fighters fired shots outside the stadium during a PWD Bamenda match. A shootout with security forces ensued, fans and players fled, and the teams once again withdrew to the Francophone region.
But later that year, construction began on a new stadium in a safer part of Bamenda, and on Feb. 1, about fans turned up to watch PWD Bamenda defeat Stade Renard 4-1.
At the game this month, PWD Bamenda fan Tise Hilary reflects on what his team鈥檚 homecoming has meant, describing it as a moment of release. 鈥淲e needed that after so many years,鈥� he says, as other spectators around him nod in agreement.
Indeed, for a few hours during this match, the tension that often defines daily life here appears to soften. In the stands, friends argue over the team鈥檚 missed chances for a goal. Strangers exchange greetings.
鈥淚 come here to forget,鈥� says Bernard Ndim. For years, he followed PWD Bamenda from a distance, unable to afford transport to the relocated home matches. 鈥淲e have heard so much bad news ... gunshots, killings,鈥� he says. 鈥淣ow, when I sit here, I feel like I am healing through football.鈥�
