PR TIMES AFRICA PRTimesAfrica (March 2016) | Page 18

CAMEROUN’S
FOOTBALL
GIFT TO THE WORLD
THAT KEEPS ON
GIVING BACK TO
AFRICA
Africa’s most decorated football export once said, “The continent is a mental state. I live
in Europe but I sleep in Africa. Every goal of mine is a celebration of there. Hopefully I’ll
have time to do more things for people in Africa” , declaring in his characteristic forward-
ness, his undying love and unbreaakeable consciousness of his roots.
Born on 10th march, 1981 in Nkon, Cameroun, Samuel Eto’o Fils was a son of an accoun-
tant and had a relatively comfortable childhood in Doualla, the country’s largest city and
capital of the Littoral region, which is also the richest city in the CEMAC region compris-
ing six central African countries. Eto’o’s football education began at the age of 11years,
when he joined the Kadji sports academy in Douala.
His first attempt to showcase his precocious talents in Europe saw him rejected by a
French club due to his age and lack of a proper ID. He later joined the youth team of Real
Madrid FC of Spain, from where he moved around series of lower division clubs on loan
till he found a permanent home in RCD Mallorca with whom he won the Kings Cup in
2003 and went on to become the club’s top scorer.
18 | PRTIMES AFRICA MARCH 2016