Eto'o, Samuel

▪ 2002

      Samuel Eto'o of Cameroon was a rising star in African association football (soccer) in 2001. Though still unseasoned, the lanky 20-year-old was shaping up to be a formidable striker both for his national team, the Indomitable Lions, and for Mallorca, a club in the Spanish League. The Indomitable Lions qualified for the trip to Asia in 2002 for the team's fourth consecutive (and fifth total) Fédération Internationale de Football (FIFA) World Cup, where they were to face first-round opponents Germany, Ireland, and Saudi Arabia. As such, the young forward was poised to follow in the footsteps of countryman Roger Milla, who led Cameroon to the quarterfinals of the 1990 World Cup. In June 2001 Eto'o became the only African named to the All-Star team of the FIFA Confederations Cup.

      Samuel Eto'o Fils was born on March 10, 1981, in Nkon, Cameroon. He attended the Kadji Youth Academy and first came to national attention while playing for UCB Douala, a second-division club, in the 1996 Cup of Cameroon. At only 16 years of age, Eto'o wowed the crowds with his lethal attacks and cool confidence. He caught the attention of Real Madrid, one of the top teams in Europe, which signed him prior to its seventh victory run in the European Cup in 1998, though Eto'o saw little playing time. Nor did he see much action after joining Cameroon when it qualified for the 1998 World Cup and faltered in the first round.

      Back in Africa, Eto'o paid his dues on Cameroon's under-23 team and reemerged during the 2000 African Nations Cup, where he scored four times, including a crucial goal in the Indomitable Lions's gold-medal victory over Nigeria. He came into his own at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, where Cameroon defeated Spain for the first Olympic gold in the nation's history. In the Olympic final, with the Indomitable Lions facing a 2–0 deficit in the second half, Eto'o and teammate Patrick Mboma led the comeback with two game-tying goals, forcing extra time. After Eto'o's apparent goal in the final seconds of extra time was called back owing to an offside penalty, the game went into penalty kicks, in which Cameroon prevailed.

      In Spain Real Madrid loaned him to a second-division team, Leganes, and to Espanyol de Barcelona before sending him to Mallorca. In June 2001 Mallorca made full acquisition of Eto'o, buying out his remaining contract to Real Madrid for $6.4 million, which Eto'o helped to repay by becoming his team's leading scorer. He signed a new six-year, $7 million contract in July.

Tom Michael

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