CAF African Player of the Year award - a record fourth time for Samuel Eto'o
FC Internazionale Milano and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Cameroon-c2865 striker Samuel Eto'o, on the back of his exploits with Internazionale including the brilliant win in the FIFA Club World Cup last Saturday and earning the International Team of the Year with
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Egypt-c2890, on Monday.
The 29-year old Cameroon international striker, who previously won the award in 2003, making it 3 times in arrow, left behind Ghanaian http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Didier-Drogba-c11044 of the Ivory Coast in the poll, held among coaches of all African
national teams. The award ceremony was held two days after the FIFA Club World Cup, in which Eto’o helped his team win the final by scoring the crucial second goal in the first half.
Samuel Eto’o joined the Italian club http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/FC-Barcelona-c39078 after winning the UEFA Champions League twice and scoring in both the final victories. Later with his amazing scoring ability he helped the Nerazzurri
to claim the most esteemed club competition in Europe after a 45-year wait during his first season in Inter Milan, which also helped his side win the majors trophies like the Scudetto, Coppa Italia and Italian Super Cup.
"It's nice to be ahead of everybody for the fourth time," said Eto'o, who is also the current leading goal scorer in the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League campaign, claiming seven goals to his name in six group stage matches. "Africa
has many great players now and many others who are improving very quickly, so this could be the last time for me.
"It's a great honour to be the first player to win this award four times but I still have to work hard if I want to become the best African footballer of all time. I think Drogba deserved this award as much as me this year. When
I was a kid I was dreaming to win awards like this, now I'm dreaming to see an African side winning the World Cup and I hope it will become reality soon."
In 2000, he joined Mallorca permanently and in the same year, he won the Africa Cup of Nations and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Olympic-c40122 Gold Medal playing for Cameroon, retaining the continental title in 2002.
He proved his best goal scoring ability with Mallorca, scoring a record 54 league goals, including two memorable goals scored in the 2003 Copa del Rey final against RC Recreativo he Huelva winning by (3-0), giving the Island club
their first major victory.
In 2004, he joined the Spanish Club FC Barcelona and spent the most successful 5 years of his career, scoring 108 goals in 145 league games and 18 in 40 UEFA Champions League matches, including the beautiful goal scored against
Arsenel in 2the 006 final winning the game by (2-1) as well as the 2009 showpiece versus Manchester United (2-0), making him the only second player to score in two finals after http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Gonzalez-c15099.
In 2005/06 he scored a total 36 goals (30 in Liga, 6 in the UEFA Champions League) and became the Liga top scorer. He was voted with the African Footballer of the year Award three years in a row (2003-05)
Later on, he joined the Italian Club Inter Milan in a swap deal which involved http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Zlatan-Ibrahimovic-c38029 and €46m going the other way; Eto’o interrupted his first season in Italy with another appearance at the African Cup of Nations in
Jan 2010, captaining Cameroon in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Angola-c2838, and was also involved in that summer’s FIFA World Cup finals.
He has achieved the unique feat of winning the treble in successive seasons as Inter triumphed in the Serie A, the Coppa Italia and the UEFA Champions League in 2009/10.
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