Eto Retires, says its right time to venture into new area
Four time African footballer of year Samuel Eto’o who announced retirement from football on Saturday, says it is time to venture into new areas of life.
The 38 year old who is still keeping his new area of interest to heart, added that he has been running for 19 years and now needs to take some rest after which he will begin a new thing.
“The end, towards a new challenge,” the former Barcelona, Inter Milan and Chelsea striker posted on Instagram. Thank you all, big love, adrenalin.”
“In a few months you’ll see me doing something new,” Eto’o, who has campaigned relentlessly against racism during his playing days, later said on the margins of an economic forum in DR Congo.
“I need a rest, I’ve been running for 19-years,” he added
He stands alongside Liberia’s current president George Weah and Ivory Coast’s Didier Drogba as a great of African sport, and cuts a mythical figure in his homeland where he is close to national president Paul Biya.
He is set for a major role in the Confederation of African Football where he has vowed to fight corruption to ensure funds go into infrastructure.
The most memorable period of his club career includes five hugely successful seasons with Barcelona from 2004 to 2009.
He won a pair of Champions League titles and three La Liga crowns before departing.
He then spearheaded Jose Mourinho’s charge to a historic treble with Inter comprised of Champions League, Serie A and Coppa Italia titles during his first season in Italy.
He led Cameroon to an impressive four World Cups in 1998, 2002, 2010 and 2014 and enjoyed huge success at the Africa Cup of Nations as the Indomitable Lions won in 2000 and 2002.
He was part of a golden generation that featured Rigobert Song, the late Marc-Vivien Foe and Geremi as Cameroon also won the gold medal at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, with the emerging Eto’o both scoring and converting a penalty in the shoot-out win over Spain in front of a blockbuster 114,000 crowd.