Top facts about Samuel Eto'o

Samuel Eto'o was born on March 10, 1981 in Douala, Cameroon. He is a Cameroonian ex-footballer who played as a striker. You can definitely say that Samuel was amongst the top strikers of the football world.

Eto'o is mostly regarded as the best African football player of history, as he managed to win African Player of the Year award 4 times during his football career which is an untouchable record.

Eto’o had an impressive career as a footballer, He has the world record of most number of appearances by an African player in La Liga as he spent most his time in La Liga playing for Barcelona.

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Quick facts about Samuel Eto’o, the African football legend

• Full name

  : Samuel Eto'o Fils

• Date and place of Birth

  : March 10, 1981 Douala, Cameroon

• Height & Weight

  : 1.8 m/ 78 kg

• Nationality

  : Cameroonian/ Spanish

• Position

  : Striker

• Former clubs:

  Barcelona, Chelsea, Everton, Sampdoria

• Former Jersey numbers

  : 9, 99, 29, 5, 81

• Nickname

  : little Milla

• Parents

  : Christine Eto'o (mother)/ David Eto’o (father)

• Siblings

  : Etienne Eto'o, Mado Eto'o, Sidonie Eto'o, David Eto'o, Pauline Eto'o

• Partner

  : Georgette Eto'o

• Children

  : Lynn Eto'o, Siena Eto'o, Annie Eto'o, Etienne Eto'o, Maelle Eto'o

• Zodiac sign

  : Pisces

Samuel Eto'o Family and childhood

Samuel Eto'o was born to Christine and David Eto’o on March 10, 1981 Douala, Cameroon. Samuel’s mom was a fishmonger, David his dad was an accountant. Growing up as a kid football was Samuel’s only passion.

Eto'o was spotted by the local scouts and started training at the Kadji Sports Academy in Cameroon, where he showed that he was a promising young footballer.

In 1996 Samuel Eto'o moved to France, Sadly Samuel couldn’t join any French club due to his young age and lack of proper Identification, but fortunately he managed to join Real Madrid’s academy at the age of 16 .Samuel hardly ever played for Real Madrid, he was loaned out most of the time.

Samuel Eto'o family

was thrilled to receive Samuel’s first payment for football which was more than $200 a week.

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Samuel Eto'o body measurements

Here are Samuel Eto'o body measurements: Height 5 foot 11 in, 180 cm/ Weight 172 lb, 78 kg. Samuel has dark brown eye color with black hair. Unfortunately there is not any more information about

Samuel Eto'o body measurements

.

Samuel Eto'o professional club career

Samuel didn’t have a successful career in Madrid, he trained with Real Madrid B mostly. At some points Eto’o was loaned out to other Spanish clubs such as:

and

where Samuel couldn’t really show them what he’s made of.

In 1999-20 season Samuel was loaned out to the La Liga team

in where he managed to score 6 goals out of 19 games. At the end of that season Eto’o left Real Madrid only to sign a permeant contract with Mallorca for a fee of £4.4 million which was the club’s record!

In his second season Samuel scored 11 goals and began to improve day by day as he absorbed other club’s attention. He enjoyed playing football in Mallorca, it was a good time in Samuel Eto'o professional club career as the fans adored him.

Barcelona

Samuel Eto'o left Mallorca as an all-time leading domestic league scorer where he scored 54 goals.in 2004 Samuel signed a deal with

for a transfer fee of €24 million after lengthy negotiation with three parties of Mallorca,

and Barcelona.

Samuel made his first debut for Barca in a game against Racing de Santander on 29 August 2004. After an impressive season blaugrana managed to win 2004–05 La Liga title.

Barcelona‘s team members organized a party in the Camp Nou when Eto’o shouted “Madrid, cabrón, saluda al campeón" which is the Spanish for Madrid, bastards, salute the champions.

But that comment didn’t go unanswered as The Royal Spanish Football Federation fined Samuel €12,000 for his comments at the celebration party in the Camp Nou.

After Eto’o missed out the 2004-05 Pichichi trophy which is given to La Liga’s top scorer, the whole team of Barcelona helped Eto’o to win the award in 2005-06 where he scored 26 goals. Eto’o was really gracious for his teammates sacrifice.

 Eto’o netted 6 goals for Barca in the club’s run for the 2005–06 Champions League title. In the final match of 2005–06 Champions League when Barcelona faced

. Jens Lehmann the German goalkeeper of Arsenal was sent off early on due to the foul he committed on Eto’o in the penalty area.

Eto’o made it much easier for the Catalans by scoring a goal in the second half and Barcelona ended up winning the game 2–1. Later on Samuel Eto’o won the UEFA Best Forward of the Year award for his top performance in the European campaign. This definitely was an amazing moment in

Samuel Eto'o professional club career

.

Inter Milan

Another fact about Eto’o

is that he departed Barcelona with many good memories, it was the club where he rose to the sky with as he won the African Player of the Year 2 times along with 2 Champions League which the second one came with Barcelona’s famous treble with

and Pep Guardiola.

In 2009 a deal was struck between

and Barcelona to exchange Samuel Eto’o for Zlatan Ibrahimović. On his first press-conference in Milan Samuel said that I refused to be compared to anyone ells, as he had enough victories and achievements to earn him a place in Inter Milan.

 On 8 August Eto’o had his debut for Inter in the 2009 Supercoppa Italiana, although Samuel scored for Milan in his very first game but at the end they lost the title 1–2 to

.

Eto’o scored his first UEFA Champions League goal for Inter in the 2–0 victory over

, when they managed to secure their spot in the knockout stage pf European campaign.

On 5 May 2009 Eto’o lifted his first cup with Inter Milan when they defeated

1–0 at Stadio Olimpico.

Samuel scored 12 goals in Serie A to secure Inter Milan’s 5th consecutive championship. Another interesting fact about Samuel Eto’o is that on 22 May 2009 Eto’o played in the third Champions League final of his football career.

As Samuel helped inter in 2–0 victory over

it was surely one of the most glorious moment of Inter Milan’s history as they won the Champions League title for the first time in 45 years. With the triumph over Bayern Munich Samuel Eto’o became the only player to win the treble in consecutive seasons with two different clubs.

Chelsea

On 23 August 2011 a Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala struck a deal with Inter Milan and signed a 3 year contract with Samuel Eto’o.

As Samuel Eto’o salary

was €20 million per year he became the world's highest-paid player.

On 29 August 2013, little Milla signed a one year deal with the English club

. Eto’o had his first brace for Chelsea in the 3–0 home win against

in the Champions League.

Samuel had a hat-trick in his first league start of 2014, earning a 3–1 victory for the blues over

.

Top fact about Samuel Eto'o

is that he netted the opening goal in Chelsea's 4–0 victory over

which was the 300th in Samuel Eto’o club career.

As Samuel’s contract with Chelsea expired at the end of 2013-14 season he joined another English club which was

. After that Eto’o explored other countries football leagues such as: Italy, Turkey, and Qatar. On 7 September 2019, Samuel Eto’o announced his retirement from the football world.

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Samuel Eto’o international career

Samuel Eto’o international career

started in a 5–0 friendly loss to Costa Rica. Samuel became the youngest participant in the 1998 FIFA World Cup at the age of 17 and 3 months.

Another interesting fact about Samuel Eto’o is that he scored an amazing goal for Cameroon in 2002 FIFA World Cup against Saudi Arabia in a group match which led to Cameroon’s first victory in that campaign.

The Cameroonian star was a solid member of his national team during 2000 and 2002 Africa Cup of Nations in which they did an impressive of job claiming 2 consecutive international titles.

At the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup when Cameroon finished in the second place, Eto’o scores his only goal against the amazing Brazilians.

Another fact about Samuel Eto’o

is that he missed a penalty in a 12–11 penalty shootout loss to Ivory Coast which was due to the 1–1 draw, sadly it led to Cameroon’s elimination in the quarter-finals of the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations. Yeah it was a sad story but nonetheless Samuel finished as the top scorer of the tournament.

After a win against Morocco which was guaranteed by Eto’o’s goal, Cameroon earned their spot in the 2010 FIFA World Cup tournament. Despite Eto’o’s nonstop effort and goals Cameroon got eliminated after the group matches of 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Which he described as biggest disappointment in Samuel Eto’o international career. Eto’o is the first player in history to receive the African Player of the Year award 4 times during his career.

Samuel Eto’o style of play

 Samuel Eto’o style of play is noticed by his pace and incredible stamina. He is mostly known as a strong and lethal finisher. Eto’o spent most of his football career playing as striker but in Inter Milan, under José Mourinho, he learned to feature in other attacking positions which really enhanced

Samuel Eto’o style of play

.

Samuel Eto’o is hugely regarded as one of the best strikers of the world also best African player of all times. Alongside George Weah and Didier Drogba.

Samuel Eto’o stats

Samuel Eto’o stats weren’t very promising in the beginning as he managed to score a total of 4 goals in his first three seasons in football.

He began to improve step by step as

Samuel Eto’o stats

would approve, he scored 70 goals during his time as a footballer in Mallorca.

In Barca, the shining part of Samuel’s career, he managed to score 130 goals during his 6 years residence in Barcelona which is a phenomenal record.

In Inter Milan he managed to score 53 goals out of 102 games and after that the legendary striker scored other 96 goals before his retirement in 2019.

Samuel Eto’o and Pep Guardiola

The Cameroonian legend got the chance to play for many celebrated managers but at the top of list you can see Pep Guardiola and José Mourinho’s name.

As Samuel recalled his time in Barcelona he talked about Guardiola. Eto’o said that he loved Guardiola as a coach as he learned to play football from him but definitely not as a person, Interesting fact is that many other players had the same comment about Pep Guardiola.

Pep Guardiola decided to make Lionel Messi the main figure of Barcelona, obviously Eto’o didn’t take that well and Pep Guardiola was unhappy with the Cameroonian’s resistance.

The final straw was Eto’o’s refusal to get rest three game before the champions League final as he was battling for the Pichichi Trophy. Guardiola got the sense that Samuel was putting himself first instead of the team which led to Eto’o’s departure.

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Samuel Eto’o and José Mourinho

Fun fact about Samuel Eto’o

is that he played as a winger in 2009 when Inter Milan won the treble with José Mourinho. The next season when the new manager came in he asked Eto’o to play as winger again, ‘No, I only do that for Mourinho’ Samuel replied.

Which shows his respect for the Portuguese manager, Samuel regarded Mourinho as a friend first of all.

Samuel Eto’o Market value

Samuel Eto’o Market value

had been at its highest point in 2009 when the Cameroonian star was worth more €42.00m, the year he won his first treble with Barcelona.

Samuel Eto’o salary and net worth

Samuel had been the highest-piad football player once but the most expensive

Samuel Eto’o salary

was $26 million per year. Samuel Eto’o net worth is estimated to be around $95 million which is a mind-blowing amount of money.

Samuel Eto’o wife

Georgette Eto'o is

Samuel Eto’o wife

. The couple met at an intimidating time where they both were struggling in their careers.

Georgette and Samuel have known each other for more than 20 years now. When Samuel met Georgette she owned a small hair salon in Nantes and he was trying to find a club there.

Unfortunately Samuel couldn’t join any club in Nantes and had to go back to Cameroon. Hence the couple had to have long distance relationship.

As Samuel joined Real Madrid in 1997 the couple started to live in Spain. Finally Georgette and Samuel decided to extend their family, and Siena and Lynn and were born.

Ever since Samuel started his professional football career Georgette, Samuel Eto’o’s wife, was his untiring supporter, she always had faith in Samuel no matter what.

The Cameroonian star purposed to Georgette with a beautiful ring which was worth €500,000. A few months later, on July 6, 2007, the couple got married in Italy. As they had two more kids named Etienne and Maelle.

Even though they seemed to be the perfect couple, Samuel Eto’o’s affair with the model Nathalie Koah in 2014 made a massive chaos on social media, when everyone was withering to see Georgette‘s reaction to Samuel’s affair.

Miraculously Georgette showed huge amount of maturity and wisdom as she forgave Samuel instead of walking out of her marriage, she even wrote an advice letter to Nathalie Koah.

Samuel Eto’o children

Another interesting fact Samuel Eto’o is that he has 6 children with 4 different women including his wife Georgette Eto’o. Here are

Samuel Eto’o children

with his lawful wife Georgette: Lynn, Siena, Etienne and Maelle.

The Cameroonian legend was recognized to be the biological father of a young girl called Annie Eto’o Barranca, this led to a paternity case in Palma, Spain, in 2004.

Anna Maria Barranca Annie’s mother is an Italian woman she claims that she saw Samuel Eto’o in a station before they started their romance relationship in a nightclub in Palma where she worked.

Barranca stated that she had been in relationship with Samuel for three months after that she saw the football star with another woman and broke up with him.

In 2015 an Italian court ruled that Samuel Eto’o had to pay €10,000 (£8,417) per month in alimony payments. Which he failed to pay until this very moment.

Another interesting fact about Samuel

Eto’o is that another young girl named Erika do Rosario claims to be the Cameroonian start’s biological daughter.

Adileusa do Rosario is Erika’s mother who met with Samuel in Madrid 1997 when he was loaned out to Leganes. The Spanish court has summoned Eto’o many times but he hasn’t showed up yet.

Samuel Eto’o social media

 Samuel Eto’o social media has been pretty much active as he is the official ambassador of 2022 FIFA world cup.

is Samuel Eto’o’s ID address on Instagram where he has more than 5 million followers.

Samuel Eto’o social media

is mostly filled with pictures of him working out or his pictures with football legends such as Maradona and of course pictures of him with his family.

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