ALGERIA: SOCCER - Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o wins 'Best African Player on a World Level' award

International soccer start Samuel Eto'o received on Monday evening (November 20) the award for the '2006 exceptional African player' in a ceremony organised by the African Football Players Union. According to a local news agency, Eto'o was selected from 800 African players plying their trade in Europe. Other contestants included Didier Drogba, the Ivory Coast striker currently playing with Chelsea. During the evening, awards were also given to some of the best "African players of the century", among them Cameroon's Roger Milla, star of the 1990 World Cup finals in Italy, Laurent Pokou from Ivory Coast and Mustapha El-Haddaoui from Morocco. Born in Nkon, Cameroon, in 1981, Eto'o plays for European champions Barcelona from Spain. Eto'o made the leap to European football at the age of just 16 when Real Madrid signed him up and loaned him out to second division Leganés. At 17, he became the youngest player in the 1998 World Cup in France.

ITN Source | November 22, 2006

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