Samuel Eto'o, fils (French pronunciation: [samɥɛl eto fis]; born 10 March 1981) is a Cameroonian footballer who plays as a striker for Italian Serie A club Internazionale and is currently serving as captain of the Cameroon national team.[3]
Eto'o scored over 100 goals in five seasons with FC Barcelona, and is also the record holder in number of appearances by an African player in La Liga.[4] As of June 2009, he is the joint 3rd highest goalscorer in Barça's history, along with Rivaldo. He is the second player to have ever scored in two separate UEFA Champions League finals.
As a member of the Cameroon national team, he was a part of the squad that won the 2000 Olympic tournament; he has participated in two World Cups and five African Nations Cups (being champion twice), and is the all-time leading scorer in the history of the African Nations Cup, with 18 goals
Eto'o has two brothers: David, who plays for Reus Deportiu in the Tercera División, and Étienne, who plays for RCD Mallorca. Eto'o married his longtime sweetheart Georgette on 6 July 2007. They have three children together: Étienne, Maelle, and Siena, who all live along with Georgette in Paris, France.[46]
International career
Eto'o playing for Cameroon
Eto'o earned his first cap with Cameroon at age 14 on 9 March 1996, 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 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 shoot-out loss to Côte d'Ivoire 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 quarterfinals 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 fourteenth 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.[44] 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.[45]
In the 2010 World Cup qualification match against Gabon, Eto'o scored a goal in the 68th minute. He followed it up with another goal in the home fixture. He now leads 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 FIFA 2010 World Cup.
On Tuesday December 1, 2009 Eto'o came in 5th for the Ballon d'Or, which was taken by his former teammate Lionel Messi.
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