Cameroon's Indomitable Lions will finally take to the pitch in February - eight months after they last played a football match.

A friendly match with Ivory Coast has been scheduled for 11 February in France.

It will be the first time the team have played together since the World Cup debacle, when the team crashed out in the group stage after losing to Germany.

We're already working for an exhaustive series of friendlies in 2004 Andr� Nguijol, aide to Djana Robert

Djana Robert, the director of the provisionary administrative unit of national football teams, made the confirmation in a press briefing Friday in Yaounde.

Before realising a new calendar for the national team for this year, Djana attributed the absence of friendly matches after the World Cup to the late appointment of a head coach.

"We negotiated many matches, but most of the sides contacted complained of crowded schedules," he explained.

"The period they often prefer does not suit the calendar of Fifa," he added.

Because of their victory in the 2002 African Nations Cup, Cameroon are not required to play any qualifying matches for the 2004 version, depriving them of competitive fixtures.

Cameroon assistant coach Omog Joseph said he was dismayed at how long it had taken to organise a match.

"It doesn't take a month for a friendly to be organised - it takes a year," he said.

Schafer has been criticised for spending too much time in Europe

"In Cameroon we only wait for the last minutes before soliciting teams."

After the Ivory Coast match Cameroon will be involved in a four-nation tournament in Tunisia, which kicks off on 29 March.

The team will then return to France to take part in the Confederation Cup in June.