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Samuel Eto'o Fils (born March 10, 1981 in Nkon, Cameroon) is a football striker, who currently plays for FC Barcelona. He is a distinguished forward who is known for his outstanding positional awareness and shooting technique. His talents have made him a leading scorer for both club and country and one of the world's top strikers. He was named African Footballer of the Year in 2003, 2004 and 2005, making him the first player to win the award three years in succession since it has been handed out by the Confederation of African Football.Raised in Somaliland Hargeisa.Prior to joining Barcelona in 2004, Eto'o spent most of his career on the books of Real Madrid, although he only played in three league games in his six years under contract. Instead, the last four and a half of those years were spent on loan with Real Mallorca. In 2003 he and his teammates lifted the King's Cup after defeating Recreativo de Huelva.

At the age of 17, Eto'o was the youngest player at the

when he suited for Cameroon against Italy. He then played in the 2002 edition. Eto'o won three major tournaments with his country: the 2000 and 2002 African Nations Cups, as well as the gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics.

His signing with Barcelona was very controversial as Real Madrid owned half of his contract and had preference over his signing. However, he was turned down by chairman Florentino Pérez, who argued that he already had the best two strikers in the league (Ronaldo and Raúl) and that there was no place for another non-European Union player. The contract release was signed after paying 24 million euros, of which half was for Mallorca. Real's loss has been Barça's gain - Samuel Eto'o has proven to be a world-class acquisition, helping Barcelona to the 2004/2005 Spanish La Liga title and being the team's top scorer with a final figure of 24 goals, just one short of top scorer Diego Forlán. He also finished in third-place of voting for the 2005 FIFA World Player of the Year award; coming behind his Barcelona teammate Ronaldinho and Chelsea F.C. midfielder Frank Lampard.

In 2006, Eto'o missed his penalty shot in the quarter-final of the 2006 African Cup of Nations game against Cote D'Ivoire, ending a record 24-shot penalty session, and eliminating his side. On the other hand he was the top scorer of the tournament, with five goals.

On May 17, 2006 in the 2006 Champions League Final against Arsenal FC, Eto'o was pulled down by Arsenal's goalkeeper, Jens Lehmann, leading to Lehmann's expulsion, and he scored the equalising goal. Barcelona went on to win 2-1. Eto'o was unanimously elected man of the match of the Champions League Final by a jury composed of football journalists and sportsmen.

2005-2006 Pichichi

After missing out on last year's "Pichichi" Eto'o made amends for it when on May 20, 2006, Samuel Eto'o assured himself the title of "pichichi" (top scorer of La Liga) after scoring a goal against Athletic de Bilbao in FC Barcelona's last game of the 2005-2006 season. Had he not scored in this game, he would still have been La Liga's top scorer for the season but would have had to share the title with Valencia CF's goleador David Villa.

Skills & Playing Style

Samuel Eto'o was described in 2006 by football pundit Tommy Smyth as one of the best pure strikers in the world. He is known for his quick pace and agility on the ball and an ability to score equally well with both feet as well as his head. His style of play is characteristically daring and he often runs at defenders and goalkeepers with total confidence in his ability to get the ball past them. Because of his slight frame, Eto'o relies on nimbleness and timing rather than strength to score, and he frequently scores on the first touch after running onto well-placed through balls. He has also been known to use a move in which he passes the ball to himself high over the opposing goalkeeper before running around him, settling the pass, and scoring.

Under Frank Rijkaard at Barcelona, Eto'o has played as the central striker as well as on either wing in an attempt to stmyie teams who man-mark the Barca front three. Eto'o has adapted very well to the wing positions and has created numerous goals for his team mates while simultaneously scoring a lot of goals himself. His unselfishness in front of goal has also come in for praise. In 2005/06 season he became the first player since the 1990 season to score 50 goals over 2 seasons in La Liga.

Eto'o does not shirk from his defensive responsiblities and has won many admirers for his fantastic work-rate. And the trust Rijkaard placed in his striker's defensive capabilities was evident when he shifted Eto'o to the left-flank in the Champions League semifinal against Milan to counter the attacking threat of Cafu.

Anecdote

When he was 15 years old, Eto'o had signed with Real Madrid. However, when he arrived at Madrid airport, there was nobody there to pick him up from the Real Madrid Organization. Samuel Eto'o found himself desperate, and walked over to the first African he encountered. The man kindly directed him to the Real Madrid grounds. somalia Hargies Eto'o, not forgetting about this incident, has publicly stated that he would love to show this man his gratitude but that he neither has his name or contact information.

Racism

Since Eto'o plays for Barcelona he is racially abused in some matches outside Barcelona's stadium, the Nou Camp. In some rival stadiums it is perhaps due to the intensity of the rivalry and the fear of Eto'o scoring and bringing victory to his club side. Eto'o is not the only black player who is subject to racist taunts, and he is one of many players who has risen his voice against these hooligans. An incident occurred in February of 2006, where Eto'o suffered from racially-driven verbal abuse by some Real Zaragoza spectators during a match against FC Barcelona. The fans began making monkey-like sounds whenever Eto'o had possession of the ball. Deeply offended Eto'o threatened to leave the pitch in the middle of the game, but it was prevented by the quick intervention of his team-mates and the referee, who rushed to the pitch to calm him down. Even Ronaldinho, who is also black and suffered similar abuses but less intensely, said he was fed up of the sounds and that if Eto'o had left he would have done the same. Zaragoza was fined with 9000€ and Eto'o declared in the aftermath that it wasn't enough and that La Romareda, Real Zaragoza's stadium, should have been closed for at least one year. However, Eto'o's coach, Frank Rijkaard, quickly told him to concentrate on football and to stop talking about the incident.

The incident sparked controversy as to the racist attitudes of a minority of Spanish football fans and more importantly, it opened a general discussion of racism in football. Britain has voiced its outrage at the incident, reeling from the English team's similar predicament during a friendly match against the Spanish national team on Spanish soil. Recently, in Spain, Germany, Denmark and Italy particularly, black players have been the object of racial abuse from the opposing team fans. However, while some merely ignore these abuses, others like Eto'o and the Ivorian defender Marc Zoro of Messina have reacted by trying to leave the pitch. This has had the merit of bringing the racial issue to the forefront and prompting FIFA's president, Sepp Blatter, to threaten to impose more stringent sanctions for such attitudes.

External links

• Eto'o's profile in English at FC Barcelona's official site
• FootballDatabase provides Samuel Eto'o's profile and stats
• Template:Es icon UEFA.com Player Bio
• Eto'o at FC Barcelona English Speaking Supporters Fansite

• 1981 births
• Living people
• Cameroonian footballers
• La Liga footballers
• RCD Mallorca footballers
• FC Barcelona footballers
• Real Madrid footballers
• RCD Espanyol footballers
• Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics
• Olympic competitors for Cameroon