Samuel Eto'o

Samuel Eto'o Fils (born 10 March 1981) is a Cameroonian football administrator and former player who is the current president of the Cameroonian Football Federation.

Having trained at the Kadji Sports Academy in Cameroon, Eto'o joined Real Madrid's youth academy in 1997, but he could only train with Real Madrid B, as he was still a minor.

Real Madrid B were relegated to the third tier, Segunda División B, where non-EU players are not allowed, and as a result, he was loaned to second division Leganés for the 1997–98 season.

After making 30 appearances for the club and only scoring four goals, he returned to Madrid following the end of the 1998–99 season.

In January 1999, he was loaned out to Espanyol, but made only one appearance for the club, against Real Valladolid in Copa del Rey.

The next season, in the winter transfer window, he transferred to La Liga team Mallorca on loan, where he scored six goals in 19 games.

At the end of the season, Eto'o left Real Madrid, signing a permanent deal with Mallorca for a club record £4.4 million fee.

In his second season, he scored 11 goals and began to garner attention throughout the league.

Mallorca President Mateo Alemany said of his style of play, "I doubt if there is any other player in the world who would please the fans more at this moment."

Due to competition in his position with more experienced players, he had several loan spells, before signing for Mallorca in 2000 where he scored 70 goals, a club record.

As a member of the Cameroon national team, Eto'o was a part of the squad that won the Gold Medal at the 2000 Olympics.

He also won the Africa Cup of Nations in 2000 and 2002.

Eto'o has participated in four World Cups and six Africa Cup of Nations.

He is the all-time leading scorer in the history of the Africa Cup of Nations, with 18 goals, and is Cameroon's all-time leading scorer and third most capped player, with 56 goals in 118 caps.

Eto'o also scored in two consecutive away wins against his former club Real Madrid: the first, a 1-5 thrashing, the only home loss of the Madrilenian club who went to win the 2002-03 La Liga.; the second ended with a 2-3 result that denied a back-to-back La Liga win for Real.

He won the African Player of the Year a record four times: in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2010.

A precocious talent, Eto'o moved to Real Madrid as a 16 year old.

He returned the fans' appreciation when he donated €30,000 in meals to travelling Mallorca supporters who made the journey to the Copa del Rey final against Recreativo de Huelva in 2003.

Mallorca won the match 3–0, with Eto'o scoring two late goals to seal the victory.

His impressive form saw him join Barcelona in 2004 where he scored 130 goals in five seasons and also became the record holder for the most appearances by an African player in La Liga.

Eto'o departed Mallorca as the club's all-time leading domestic league scorer (54 goals) when he signed for Barcelona in the summer of 2004 for a transfer fee of €24 million, after lengthy, three-way negotiations with Mallorca and Madrid.

Initially, Real Madrid President Florentino Pérez wanted to buy back the full transfer rights and loan him out again, but eventually the Barcelona deal proved lucrative enough to warrant a sale.

Additionally, the team already had its full quota of three non-EU players.

Eto'o made his Barcelona debut in the season opener at Racing de Santander on 29 August 2004.

After Barcelona won the 2004–05 La Liga title, the team organized a festive party in the Camp Nou, during which Eto'o harangued the fans chanting, "Madrid, cabrón, saluda al campeón" (English for, "Madrid, bastards, salute the champions").

The Royal Spanish Football Federation fined Eto'o €12,000 for his comments, for which he later apologized.

He expressed regret and asked for forgiveness from Real Madrid, his first professional team.

The head of the Real Madrid fan club federation remained unimpressed, however, stating, "This character is a fantastic player, but he leaves a lot to be desired as a person."

At Barcelona, Eto'o came in third for the FIFA World Player of the Year in 2005 and was twice named in the FIFA FIFPro World XI, in 2005 and 2006.

He signed an improved contract with Barcelona in June 2005.

Winning La Liga three times, he was a key member of the Barcelona attack, alongside Ronaldinho, that won the 2006 UEFA Champions League Final, with Eto'o scoring in the final, and was part of a front three of Lionel Messi and Thierry Henry that won the 2009 UEFA Champions League Final, with Eto'o again scoring in the final.

He is the second player in history to score in two UEFA Champions League finals.

After missing out on the previous year's Pichichi trophy, which is given to the top scorer in La Liga, Eto'o edged out Valencia striker David Villa for the award during the final matchday on 20 May 2006 when he scored his 26th goal of the season against Athletic Bilbao.

Eto'o was very gracious to teammates after the game, saying, "It has been a team effort although only one person gets the award. We've worked hard all season and have got our just rewards."

Eto'o himself commented on his rise to stardom, "I like it here in Mallorca; I have always been well looked after, the fans appreciate me and I also have a contract that runs until 2007."

He signed with Inter Milan for the 2009–10 season, where he became the first player to win two European continental trebles following his back-to-back achievements with Barcelona and Inter.

He is the fourth player in Champions League history, after Marcel Desailly, Paulo Sousa, and Gerard Piqué, to have won the trophy two years in a row with different teams.

After brief spells with Anzhi Makhachkala, Chelsea, Everton, and Sampdoria, Eto'o found prolific form again in the Süper Lig with Antalyaspor having scored 44 goals in 76 league games.

Eto'o announced his retirement from international football in August 2014.

In 2015, he received the Golden Foot Award.