Samuel Eto’o’s Carreer

Nkwain Desmond May 20th, 2021, 10:59 am

We take a look at Samuel Eto’o fils today and his achievements through out his carreer

With full names Samuel Eto’o fils, ( born march 10th, 1981 in Nkon, Cameroon ) is a retired Camerooonian footballer player who is considered one of Africa’s greatest footballers of all time. He attended the Kadji Sports Academy in Douala, Cameroon. He caught the attention of Real Madrid at 16 years in the 1996 Afcom who signed him in 1997 in their junior team, though he had little playing time with them

Samuel eto,o made a name for himself in the year 2000 when he was lent out to a number of r
teams by Real Madrid, playing for Cameroon in the African Cup of Nations. He scored four times, including a crucial goal and Camerooon won Nigeria. He also led Cameroon to an Olympic gold in Sydney after defeating Spain on penalties after coming behind from 2 goals down with mboma and eto’o scoring the goals, the went on to win on penalties winning Cameroon first ever Olympic gold medal in football. Real Mallorca then signed him in 2002 for a fee of $6.3milliom which was a club record at that time. He then guided Cameroon to another Afcon title in 2002. At Real Mallorca, he became their leading goal scorer scoring 67 goals in 155 appearances and also leading them to a Copa del rey trophy in the 2002/2003 season .

He was lured by Barcelona in 2004 and he won his record third consecutive African Player of the year award in 2005. In 2006, he played for Barcelona and they won the Champions league. He became the all time leading goal scorer in Africa Cup of Nations history with 16 goals. 2009 was a historic season for Barcelona and Eto’o when the club won first-division title, Spanish’s biggest domestic cup ( Copa del Rey ) and the continental Champions league.

He scored 130 goals in 199 appearances for Barcelona winning 3 league titles, 1 Copa del rey, 2 Spanish super cups and 2 champions league titles.
He also won the pichichi(top scorer in la Liga) at Barcelona in 2006 with 26 goals.

He was now transfered to inter Milan in a swap deal with Ibrahimovic going the other way. He won the 2010 Champions league title, the Copa Italia and the league title with them scoring 37 goals in that season and becoming the first ever player to win back to back trebles (league title, domestic cup and champions league) with two different clubs.

At inter Milan, he won 1 league title, 2 Copa Italia, 1 Italian super cup, 1 champions league and 1 FIFA club world cup.
Overall, he scored 53 goals in 102 appearances for inter Milan.

He then moved to Anzhi Makhachkala in 2011 and becoming the highest paid player in the world with a salary of €20million per season
The club signed alot of big names that season with the aim of becoming one of the top sides in Europe
The move didn’t go as planned with the club failing to qualify for the next seasons Champions league.
At the end of the 2012–13 Russian Premier League, Eto’o made it to the Top 33 players of the Season list as the #1 Right Striker.[65] Anzhi’s billionaire owner Suleyman Kerimov shocked the Russian football world by deciding in August 2013 to scale down the club’s ambitions and drastically shrink its budget. As a result, almost all of the star players, previously signed in a bid to make the club world beaters, were available on the transfer market.

He then signed for Chelsea on a one year contract for an undisclosed fee where he is widely remembered for his first and only premier league hattrick in 3:1 win over Manchester United
At Chelsea, he bagged 12 goals and 7 assist in 35 appearances for the club.

His contract expired with Chelsea at the end of the season and he joined fellow premier league side Everton on a 2 year deal
He stated he wanted to win the Europa league with Everton a trophy he had never won before but however he left the club halfway through the season after scoring only 4 goals in 20 games for the club across all competitions

On 27 January 2015, Eto’o returned to the Italian Serie A, joining Sampdoria on a two-and-a-half-year deal where he scored 2 goals and recorded 2 assist for them in 18 appearances

At the end of the season he moved to Turkish side Antalyaspor where he enjoyed a good run of form scoring 13 goals in his first 15 games for the club and was also named interim manger of the team after coach Yusuf Simsek was sacked on December 7, 2015 until Jose Morais was hired as Şimşek’s permanent replacement on 6 January 2016.
He scored 44 goals and provided 14 assists in over 77 appearances through out his time at the club

On 31 January 2018, after leaving Antalyaspor by mutual consent, Eto’o joined league rivals Konyaspor on a two-and-a-half-year contract.
He scored 6 goals and provided 2 assists during his half season at the club.

He signed for Qatar SC in August 2018. In February 2019 he said he wished to continue playing for a further year.
He then announced his retirement from football on 7th September 2019.

At the international level
He is currently Cameroon’s all-time goalscorer with 56 goals and 118 appearances, which also puts him as his nation’s 2nd-most capped player behind Rigobert Song (137) but he stands as the highest goal scorer in the history of Camerooon
Eto’o earned his first cap with Cameroon one day before his 16th birthday on 9 March 1997, in a 5–0 friendly loss to Costa Rica. In 1998, he was the youngest participant in the 1998 FIFA World Cup when he appeared in a 3–0 group stage loss to Italy on 17 June 1998, at the age of 17 years and three months. Eto’o scored his sole goal of the 2002 FIFA World Cup when he netted the game-winner against Saudi Arabia during the group stage on 6 June 2002, which was Cameroon’s only win of the competition.

Eto’o was a part of the squads that won the 2000 and 2002 Africa Cup of Nations, and was a gold medalist at the 2000 Summer Olympics. At the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup, in which Cameroon finished as runners-up, he scored his only goal in a 1–0 group stage upset of Brazil on 19 June. Cameroon were eliminated in the quarter-finals of the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations after Eto’o missed the decisive penalty in a 12–11 penalty shootout loss to Ivory Coast following a 1–1 draw, but he nonetheless finished as the top scorer of the tournament with five goals. He missed a team practice before the quarter-finals to attend the CAF African Footballer of the Year award ceremonies in Togo.

In the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, Eto’o became joint leading goalscorer (along with Laurent Pokou) in the competition’s history after scoring his 14th goal with a penalty against Zambia on 26 January 2008. In the following game against Sudan, on 30 January, Eto’o converted another penalty to become the tournament’s all-time leading scorer, followed by another goal in the same match that took his Cup of Nations tally to 16. He finished as the top scorer for the second consecutive tournament, matching his 2006 total of five goals.

On 1 June 2008, Eto’o headbutted reporter Philippe Bony following an incident at a press conference. Bony suffered an injury, but Eto’o later apologized for the altercation, offering to pay Bony’s medical expenses. In the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Gabon, Eto’o scored a goal in the 68th minute. He followed it up with another goal in the home fixture. He led the scoring chart with eight qualification goals. Eto’o scored in the World Cup qualification match against Morocco to win Cameroon a spot in the 2010 FIFA World Cup tournament. On 19 June 2010, Eto’o scored a goal in Cameroon’s 2010 World Cup group stage match against Denmark, from a mistake by Christian Poulsen. Cameroon eventually lost the game 2–1 and was eliminated from the World Cup. Eto’o described it as the biggest disappointment of his career. In December 2010, Eto’o became the first man to be named African Player of the Year for a fourth time.

On 16 December 2011, Eto’o was suspended 15 games by the Cameroonian Football Federation, after the team refused to play a friendly against Algeria earlier in the year. The ban was reduced to eight months in January 2012, meaning Eto’o would only miss four competitive matches. The change was brought about after Cameroon President Paul Biya asked officials to reconsider the controversial sanction.

On 27 August 2012, Eto’o was in the squad to face Cape Verde in the first leg of a qualification play-off for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, but the striker refused to play, as a protest against what he described as the “amateurish and poorly organised” national team set-up. After an intervention from Cameroon Prime Minister Philemon Yang, Eto’o agreed to return for the second leg. However, Eto’o’s return was not enough for Cameroon to overturn a 0–2 first leg deficit, and the Indomitable Lions failed to qualify for the Cup of Nations.

On 23 March 2013, Eto’o scored his first goal for Cameroon in 16 months with a penalty kick against Togo in a 2014 World Cup qualifier. He went on to score an 82nd minute winning goal in the same match, sending Cameroon to the top of their qualifying group. In November 2013, he captained the team in their 4–1 aggregate defeat of Tunisia in the play-off to secure World Cup qualification. In June 2014, Eto’o was selected in Cameroon’s squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, becoming the third African to participate in four tournaments after compatriots Jacques Songo’o and Rigobert Song. After joining Everton, on 27 August 2014, Eto’o announced his retirement from international competition

Individual honours
Young African Player of the Year: 2000
African Player of the Year: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2010
ESM Team of the Year: 2004–05, 2005–06, 2008–09, 2010–11
FIFA World Player of the Year Bronze Award: 2005
FIFA FIFPro World XI: 2005, 2006
UEFA Team of the Year: 2005, 2006
CAF Team of the Year: 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
Pichichi Trophy: 2005–06
UEFA Champions League top assist provider: 2005–06
African Cup of Nations top goalscorer: 2006, 2008
UEFA Club Forward of the Year: 2006
FIFA Club World Cup Golden Ball: 2010
Coppa Italia top goalscorer: 2010–11
Russian Premier League MVP Award: 2012–13
Golden Foot: 2015
Globe Soccer Player Career Award: 2016

Major Records
African Cup of Nations all-time top goalscorer
RCD Mallorca all-time top goalscorer
Cameroon all-time top goalscorer

Carreer trophies

Club
Mallorca

Copa del Rey: 2002–03

Barcelona

La Liga: 2004–05, 2005–06, 2008–09
Copa del Rey: 2008–09
Supercopa de España: 2005, 2006
UEFA Champions League: 2005–06, 2008–09

Inter Milan

Serie A: 2009–10
Coppa Italia: 2009–10, 2010–11
Supercoppa Italiana: 2010
UEFA Champions League: 2009–10
FIFA Club World Cup: 2010
International
Cameroon

African Cup of Nations: 2000, 2002
Olympic Gold Medal: 2000

Which player will you like us to focus on his carreer next?