Samuel Eto'o: the striker who won back-to-back trebles

Samuel Eto'o was a striker who made his own luck. He ran the channels, took the shot early, and scored in the biggest games. He did it at Mallorca, at Barcelona, at Inter and for Cameroon, and by the end of a long career he had won a great deal.

He won the Champions League with two different clubs in successive seasons, and each time he won it as part of a treble.

The numbers

The curve has two clear peaks, in 2008–09 at Barcelona and 2010–11 at Inter, with a trough between them in his first season in Milan. The earlier dip is the season of the knee injury. Even after he turned 30 he kept scoring at every stop.

Cameroon and Mallorca: a very early start

Eto'o earned his first cap for Cameroon on 9 March 1997, one day before his 16th birthday, in a 5–0 friendly defeat to Costa Rica. He went to the 1998 World Cup at 17. In club football he was on Real Madrid's books and went out on loan, to Leganés, to Espanyol and to Mallorca.

Mallorca was where he became a scorer. He stayed after the loan, helped the club win the Copa del Rey in 2002–03 and left in 2004 as the club's all-time leading league scorer. Real Madrid, meanwhile, won the Champions League in 1999–2000 with him on the books and only a few appearances to his name.

Barcelona: the Pichichi and two European Cups

Barcelona bought him from Mallorca in the summer of 2004 for €24 million, and he made his debut at Racing de Santander on 29 August that year. In 2005–06 he won the Pichichi as La Liga's top scorer, edging out David Villa on the final day with a goal against Athletic Bilbao.

The same season brought his first Champions League. In the final in Paris, Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann was sent off early for bringing down Eto'o outside the area, and Eto'o scored the equaliser in the second half in a 2–1 win. UEFA named him Best Forward of the Year. In September 2006 he tore his meniscus against Werder Bremen, and was out for months.

2008–09: the treble

In 2008–09 Eto'o, Lionel Messi and Thierry Henry between them scored exactly 100 goals, and Barcelona won La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League. Eto'o scored the opening goal of the final against Manchester United. It was a season in which he and the new coach, Pep Guardiola, did not always see eye to eye: Guardiola announced that Eto'o was not part of his plans, but he stayed to play a major part in the treble.

Inter: the second treble

That summer Eto'o left for Inter Milan in the deal that took Zlatan Ibrahimović to Barcelona. Under José Mourinho, he was part of the team that won Serie A, the Coppa Italia and the Champions League in 2009–10, a historic treble. He is the only player ever to win the treble in consecutive seasons with two different clubs.

The final on 22 May 2010 ended 2–0 against Bayern Munich, with both goals from Diego Milito and the second one set up by Eto'o.

His last season in Italy was his best there. In December 2010 he scored in the final of the Club World Cup against TP Mazembe, a 3–0 win, and was named the tournament's best player. In May 2011 he scored twice in the Coppa Italia final, a 3–1 win over Palermo. In August 2011 he announced his departure in an open letter to the fans.

A long second act

Eto'o went on to play in Russia for Anzhi Makhachkala, then returned to the big leagues with Chelsea on a one-year deal signed on 29 August 2013. On 19 January 2014 he scored his first Premier League hat-trick, in a 3–1 win over Manchester United at Stamford Bridge, and he scored the 300th goal of his career against Tottenham on 8 March.

After short spells at Everton and Sampdoria he moved to Turkey, to Antalyaspor, where he scored twice on his debut on 15 August 2015 and was briefly the club's player-manager. He then played for Konyaspor and for Qatar SC, and announced his retirement on 7 September 2019.

Cameroon: gold, two African titles and the records

He played in four World Cups, in 1998, 2002, 2010 and 2014, and scored in 2002 against Saudi Arabia. He became the Africa Cup of Nations' all-time leading scorer, having shared the record with Laurent Pokou after reaching 14 goals in 2008. He announced his retirement from international football on 27 August 2014, after joining Everton.

The trophies

Eto'o won leagues in Spain and Italy, four Champions League medals, an Olympic gold and the Africa Cup of Nations twice.

Records

The respect of the game

He is often described as one of the best strikers of his generation, and the people who coached him say so. José Mourinho, who worked with him at Inter and Chelsea, was puzzled that he never won the Ballon d'Or.

"It's difficult to understand how Samuel Eto'o never won the Ballon d'Or with the impressive career he had."

— José Mourinho, to Cameroon Radio, as reported by Africanews in September 2019

He finished third in the FIFA World Player of the Year voting in 2005, and in 2026 Sports Illustrated ranked him first in its list of the best African footballers in history.

After retiring he moved into football administration. On 11 December 2021 he was elected president of the Cameroonian Football Federation.