The Cameroonian football federation on Wednesday criticised the "unilateral" decision by the country's sports ministry to hire Belgian Marc Brys as the national team's new coach.

Brys, 61, takes over from Rigobert Song, whose contract was not renewed after Cameroon were knocked out in the last 16 of this year's Africa Cup of Nations.

"The Cameroonian football federation learned, at the same time as all Cameroonians, the appointment to positions of responsibility within the national men's senior football team," read a statement on Facebook.

The federation, known as Fecafoot, expressed its "great surprise" at the move which it said goes against a presidential decree relating to the organisation of Cameroon's national football teams.

Fecafoot said it was trying to "shed light on this regrettable situation", but did not add further details when contacted by AFP.

FIFA does not allow government interference in the running of the sport on a national basis.

Brys is the third Belgian to take charge of Cameroon. The last was Hugo Broos, who led the country to its fifth AFCON title in 2017.