3. Samuel Eto’o
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Samuel Eto’o Fils was born on the 10th of March 1981 in Cameroon, where he trained at the Kadji Sports Academy as a youngster. His innate talent saw him move to Real Madrid’s youth academy, but he could only play with Real Madrid B. After their relegation, he had to be loaned to Leganes in 1997 where he played 30 times but only scored 4 goals. For the 1998/1999 he moved to Espanyol but didn’t even play one match. Finally, he got his break in Mallorca, scoring 6 goals in 19 matches. That led to them signing him from Real Madrid for £4.4 million. In his 4 years there, he would score 48 goals in 120 games, including a brace in the 2003 Copa Del Rey final that Mallorca won. With 54 goals, he wound up as their all-time leading goalscorer in the league, an amazing feat.
Incredibly, the youth player from Real Madrid signed for FC Barcelona in 2004 for €24 million. That’s where he would go on to make several amazing pieces of history – scoring the club’s fastest hattrick in 23 minutes against Almeria, winning 8 titles including 2 UEFA Champions Leagues and 3 La Ligas. He also won the Pichichi in 2006 and with 129 goals in 201 matches for the Catalunyans, moved to Jose Mourinho’s Inter after winning the treble in 2009. There, he won another treble in his first season, scoring a total of 53 goals in 101 matches before signing for Anzhi Makhachkala where he hit 36 in 71 matches. Former manager Jose Mourinho signed him again for Chelsea, where he scored 12 goals in 34 appearances, including a deadly hattrick against Manchester United, goals against Arsenal & Liverpool. Everton & Sampdoria followed as he aged, but he found his feet again with 13 goals in 15 games for Turkish Antalyaspor. He serves as player-manager there now, having amassed one of the greatest footballing careers of all time.
His international debut was in a 5-0 friendly loss to Costa Rica aged 15 in 1997. He played in the successful Cameroon side that won gold at the 2000 Olympics, playing in 4 World Cups and 6 Cup of Nations. With 18 goals, he is the top scorer in the competition; he’s also won it twice (2000 & 2002). He has won 4 African Player of the Year Awards (3 on the trot), the youth version in 2000 the Africa Cup of Nations top scorer award in 2006 & 2008. He is Africa’s most decorated player and has struck 56 goals in 118 caps for his nation.
