Samuel Eto'o

Player Information

Full name: Samuel Eto'o Fils
Date of birth: March 10, 1981
Birthplace: Nikon, Cameroon
Nationality: Cameroonian
2nd nationality: Spanish
EU passport: Yes
Height: 179 cms
Weight: 75 kgs

Club: FC Barcelona
Position: Forward [C]
Squad Number: 9
Contract expires: June 2010
Previous clubs: UCB Douala > Real Madrid > Leganes (loan) > Espanyol (loan) > (part-owned by Real Madrid) Mallorca > (€24m) Barcelona

International debut: March 1997, v Costa Rica
International Caps: 60
International Goals: 24
World Cups: France 1998, Korea/Japan 2002

Awards

African Cup of Nations (2000, 2002)
Olympic Games (2000)

Intercontinental Cup (1998)
UEFA Champions League (2006)

Spanish Copa del Rey (2003)
Spanish La Liga (2005, 2006)
Spanish Super Cup (2005, 2006)

African Young Footballer of the Year (2001)
African Footballer of the Year (2003, 2004, 2005)
African Cup of Nations Top Scorer (2006, 2008)
Spanish La Liga Top Scorer (2006)

Biography

1981
Born March 10 in Nikon, Cameroon.
1997
March; Wins first cap for Cameroon, the day before his 16th birthday, in a friendly in Costa Rica.
July: Moves from the Kadji academy to Real Madrid after impressing on a tour of Spain and is loaned to second division Leganes to gain experience.
1998
June: Included in the squad for the 1998 World Cup finals in France, where he plays as a substitute in the match against Italy in Montpellier as the youngest player in the tournament.
August: Rejoins the Real Madrid squad for the 1998/99 season but plays just one league match before a brief loan spell at Espanyol.
1999
Plays in three games in Real Madrid's victorious Champions League campaign.
2000
Jan-Feb: Scores his first international goal as Cameroon go on to win the African Nations Cup in Nigeria.
August: Loaned out to Real Mallorca, who later make the move permanent but Madrid retain an option on him.
September: Plays key role in Cameroon under-23 side's Olympic gold medal victory in Sydney with a penalty shootout triumph over Spain.
2002
Jan-Feb: Helps retain African Nations Cup in Mali as Cameroon beat Senegal on penalties after 0-0 draw in the final.
June: Plays in the World Cup finals in Japan where Cameroon fail to get past the first round.
2003
June: Scores two goals as Mallorca win Spain's King's Cup final 3-0 against Recreativo Huelva and also plays in the Confederations Cup final defeat by France in Paris.
2004
Jan-Feb: Plays in his third successive African Nations Cup tournament but Cameroon lose in the quarter-finals to Nigeria.
April: Named 2003 African Footballer of the Year.
May: Ends the season with 17 league goals, including two in Mallorca's 3-2 win over Real Madrid at the Bernabeu.
August: Joins Barcelona from Mallorca on a four-year deal for a fee of 24 million euros, half of which went to Real Madrid.
November: Scores opener in Barcelona's 3-0 win over Real Madrid in the league.
2005
February: Named African Footballer of the Year for the second season in succession.
May: Wins title with Barcelona, the Catalan club's first trophy in six years. Top scorer in the Primera Liga with 24 goals.
June: Signs deal extension until 2010 with Barcelona.
October: Misses out on World Cup after Cameroon draw 1-1 with Egypt in their final qualifier when Pierre Wome misses an injury-time penalty. Eto'o said he did not take the penalty because Wome asked to.
November: Short listed for FIFA's World Player of the Year award together with club colleague Ronaldinho and Chelsea's Frank Lampard.
December: Third in Fifa's World Player of the Year award.
2006
February: Named as the African Player of the Year for a third year in succession, collecting the 2005 award after narrowly edging Chelsea FC's Didier Drogba into second by 108 votes to 106.
May: Helps FC Barcelona to win double of Spanish Liga Primera and UEFA Champions League. Ends La Liga as Pichichi (Top Scorer) with 26 goals.
August 20: Helped FC Barcelona to won their first trophy of the new season as they defeated Espanyol 3-0 in the second leg of the Super Cup in Camp Nou.
August 24: Etoo was recognized as the UEFA Club Forward of the Year.
September 27: Samuel Etoo could be out for up to three months after being stretchered off in Barcelona's UEFA Champions League 1-1 draw with Werder Bremen.
September 28: Barcelona will be without Samuel Eto'o for five months after the striker underwent surgery on the ruptured external meniscus on his right knee. "The operation was to repair the meniscus of the knee, not take it out, which lengthens the recovery to eight weeks," said club doctor Ramon Cugat.
October 12: Included among the 30 nominees for the FIFA World Player of the Year Award.
October 17: Included among the 50 nominees for the European Footballer of the Year Award.
November 6: Samuel Eto'o was handed the FIFPro Merit Award for his work with football in Africa and efforts to drive racism out of the game.
December 15: Samuel Eto'o collected 12.6% of the votes to finish second in the World Soccer's Player of the Year award.
2007
February 13: Lashed out at coach Frank Rijkaard for saying he did not want to play for the club and team-mate Ronaldinho for saying he should be more of a team player. His comments come after Rijkaard accused him of not wanting to take to the pitch as a replacement during Barcelona's 2-0 win over Racing Santander on Sunday. "To go into the press room and say that I didn't want to play is dishonest," Etoo said.
February 14: Samuel Etoo and Ronaldinho made a public display of reconciliation by embracing as Barcelona tried to heal the rifts caused by the Cameroon striker's recent outburst.
February 25: Marked his return to the Barcelona starting lineup with a coolly-taken goal as the Spanish champions rediscovered their form to crush Athletic Bilbao 3-0 at the Nou Camp.
March 1: Voted second in the 2006 African Footballer of the Year award.
August 29: Samuel Etoo will be out of action for at least two months after suffering a partial tear of a tendon in his right thigh. He suffered the injury just two minutes after coming on as a substitute in the 5-0 victory over Italian champion Inter Milan in the Gamper Trophy at the Nou Camp.
October 18: Granted Spanish citizenship.
2008
January 26: Equalled the African Cup of Nations all-time scoring record in Cameroon's 5-1 win against Zambia. Eto'o scored his 14th goal in five tournaments from the penalty spot to make it 4-0 and equal the 38-year-old record held by Laurent Pokou of the Ivory Coast.
January 30: Scored twice in Cameroon's 3-0 win against Sudan to surpass Ivorian international Laurent Pokou's 1970 record of 14 finals goals making him the top scorer in African Cup of Nations history.
February 10: Though Eto'o could not lead the Indomitable Lions to victory in the African Cup of Nations final against Egypt, he became the competition top goalscorer (5 goals) in Ghana.
April 29: Member of the FC Barcelona team that lost the UEFA Champions League semifinal against Manchester United, 1-2 aggregate score.
November 8: Scored four goals to lead FC Barcelona's trounce of Valladolid 6-0.

UEFA Champions League 2005-06 player's profile

Fast, strong and direct, Samuel Eto'o's commitment and desire, allied to his precocious ability, make him a formidable striking talent.

Born on 10 March 1981, Eto'o was signed by Real Madrid CF at the age of 16. He spent 1997/98 on loan at second divison CD Leganés before returning to Madrid, although he was soon off to RCD Mallorca with the capital club retaining half his ownership. Eto'o then established himself as one of the most dangerous strikers, scoring twice as the islanders beat RC Recreativo de Huelva 3-0 in the 2003 Spanish Cup final. His 17 league goals the next season took his total at Son Moix to 54, earning a €24m move to FC Barcelona in summer 2004.

Eto'o enjoyed an outstanding first season at Camp Nou, scoring the header against Levante UD that handed Barça the league title on 14 May, and a contract extension until June 2010. If anything, his second campaign was even more glorious as the Cameroonian striker - who appeared at the 1998 and 2002 FIFA World Cup finals and won the CAF African Cup of Nations in 2000 and 2002 and Olympic gold in 2000 - struck 26 league goals to help Barça to another title. He added six more in the UEFA Champions League including a hat-trick against Panathinaikos FC and, most crucially, the equaliser in the 2-1 final victory against Arsenal FC.

Did you know?
At the age of 17 years and three months, Eto'o became the youngest player to appear in a World Cup finals in France '98.

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