Samuel Eto's Biography

Samuel Eto'o Fils (born March 10, 1981 in Nkon, Cameroon) is a football striker, who currently plays for FC Barcelona. He was named African Footballer of the Year in 2003 and 2004.

Prior to joining Barcelona in 2004, Eto'o spent most of his career on the books of Real Madrid, although he only played in three league games in his six years under contract. Instead, the last four and a half of those years were spent on loan with Real Mallorca. In 2003 he and his teammates lifted the King's Cup after defeating Recreativo de Huelva.

At the age of 17, Eto'o was the youngest player at the 1998 World Cup when he suited for Cameroon against Italy. He then played in the 2002 edition. Eto'o won three major tournaments with his country: the 2000 and 2002 African Nations Cups, as well as the gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics.

His signing with FC Barcelona was very controversial as Real Madrid owned half of his contract and had preference over his signing. However, he was turned down by chairman Florentino Pérez, who argued that he already had the best two strikers in the league (Ronaldo and Raúl) and that there was no place for another non-European Union player. The contract release was signed after paying 24 million euros, of which half was for Mallorca. Samuel Eto'o has proven to be a great aquisition, helping Barcelona to the 2004/2005 Spanish La Liga title and being the team's top scorer with a final figure of 24 goals, just one short of top scorer Diego Forlán.

When he was 15, Eto'o signed with Real Madrid and flew over. However, when he arrived on Madrid airport, nobody received him. In his desperation, young Samuel walked over to the first African he encountered. That man took pity on him and took him to the Real Madrid grounds. Eto'o has stated that he would gladly thank this man, but that he neither has his name or contacts.

During his time with Mallorca, he became the highest ever league goal scorer in the history of the club, with 54 goals. He signed for Barca in the summer of 2004 for a transfer fee of 24 million euros after a long series of three-way negotiations with RCD Mallorca and Real Madrid, thus becoming the first Cameroonian player to defend the Barca colours. He made his debut for FC Barcelona in the first game of the season at Ràcing Santander, on August 29, 2004.

Since then, he has become a veritable goal machine, scoring 25 times in his first season and making a huge contribution to winning the championship. His goal against Levante clinched the league title. He has needed just 67 matches to reach the landmark figure of 50 goals, outstripping some of the great Barca legends of the past.

Since he joined the Club he has been chosen as African Player of the Year 2004, 2005 and 2006, and picked up third place in the FIFA World Player 2005. He is a full international and one of the outstanding players in the Cameroon team and has a huge popular following in his country.