Cameroon's Samuel Eto'o, the pride of AFCON host city Douala
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Loading... - Abiba Assale
- 11 Aug 2022
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Samuel Eto’o left for Europe to become one of the greatest African footballers of all time but it was in the city of Douala in Cameroon that he first made his name and where residents continue to idolise the former Barcelona superstar.
Cameroon’s economic capital is a loud and chaotic port city, hot and humid.
It is here that the country’s Indomitable Lions will face The Gambia in the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) quarter-finals on Saturday as Cameroon come to Douala for the first time in the tournament having played their previous matches in Yaounde.
Eto’o, who also starred for Inter Milan and wore the number nine for his country, moved to Douala with his family from the capital as a young boy.
He was raised in an unremarkable house on a dusty street in New Bell, an impoverished district where the locals are only too happy to talk about the man who put their neighbourhood on the map.
“He grew up here but he was blessed by God,” said Valentine, a 49-year-old caterer sheltering from the scorching mid-afternoon sun just across the street from the Eto’o family house.
“Eto’o has helped a lot of people in this neighbourhood. Recently he came back here and laid on food for everyone in New Bell.”
Immortalised
Just along the street is a bar where the exterior walls are decorated with pictures of the four-time African Footballer of the Year.
Nearby, the moto-taxis that can make navigating the streets a hazardous task pass in front of a statue of Eto’o in the green, yellow and red of Cameroon, with whom he won the AFCON in 2000 and 2002.
Eto’o was just 20 when he led the Indomitable Lions to that second continental title and it would be another two years before he signed for Barcelona and teamed up with players including Ronaldinho and a very young Lionel Messi. Read More...
