Samuel Eto’o – the standout Cameroon player at Afcon

One player has always stood out at the Africa Cup of Nations, and that is Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o who scored 18 goals in six tournaments.

Eto’o who played for giants Real Madrid and Barcelona (Spain), Inter Milan (Italy) and Chelsea (England) among others, donned the Cameroon shirt in 118 caps, scoring 56 goals in the process; a national record.

Eighteen of those goals came in the African flagship competition as Eto’o set himself as the all-time record goalscorer, overtaking Ivory Coast’s Laurent Pokou (14 goals).

Eto’o was among the Cameroon team that won back to back Afcon titles in 2000 and 2002. He also took part in four more editions (2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010), scoring at least a goal in each of them, which is also a record (scoring in six different Afcon editions) that he shares with Zambia’s Kalusha Bwalya and Ghana’s Asamoah Gyan.

The 39-year-old Eto’o announced his retirement from all football in September last year, having made his last international bow in 2014.

Recognised for his immense talent, Eto’o played his first match for Cameroon on March 9, 1997 – a day before he turned 16. He was also the youngest player at the 1998 World Cup in France. In 2002, he scored his first goal at a World Cup in a 1-0 victory over Saudi Arabia in the tournament hosted by South Korea and Japan.

In total, Eto’o played for 13 different clubs in his career.

In partnership with ANA and Sports Leo