Samuel Eto’o is one of the most respected footballers in the world. he loves Europe and Ferrari, but likes to say that if he’s in Europe during the day, at night he sleeps in Africa. His patriotism and his passionate belief in a great future for the African continent matches his determination to win the biggest challenges on the pitch Samuel Eto’o is a happy man.
You can see that from his friendly smile when he meets you for the first time, from the readiness with which he agrees to sign dozens of autographs, from the joy with which he discovers a place he doesn’t know for the first time, as he did when visiting the Ferrari plant at Maranello. You can see it above all from what he says to you when talking about himself, because someone who has made his career from a childhood dream really can’t be anything but happy.
‘I have always wanted to be a footballer, from when I was a child: it was my dream and I have managed to achieve it,’ says Eto’o. ‘For me football is a game, an incredible pleasure, and I am a very lucky man because I can play football as my job and, above all, because I was born in a country, Cameroon, where there are thousands of children who would like to be the same as me but don’t even have the chance to try. I have managed to do it and, as I said, I am a lucky man.’
It’s true, Eto’o has been lucky, but the road to success hasn’t always been a smooth one. He had to leave his family when he had just turned 15 and move to Europe, to Madrid. ‘It was complicated in the first few years,’ he remembers. ‘My loved ones were far away, in Africa, and I was still a young boy. But my desire to become a footballer was so strong that it made me stay the course in the most difficult times and I was also lucky to meet good people who helped me.
’ The theme of luck is a recurrent one: ‘It’s true, you need a lot of luck in life, not only to succeed and make your dreams come true but also to make a living, especially if, like me, you were born in Africa. I have had opportunities that are offered to very few people in the world and it is primarily for that reason that I set up a foundation, the Fundación Privada, which has the aim of seeing that others also have the opportunity that I have had, especially children, doing things that are perhaps taken for granted in Europe but which inAfrica are terribly difficult. From 2006 I have been working with a group of friends on a series of projects that go from the field of education to building and to cooperation with development. Football has given me everything and I feel obliged to give something back to repay my people. Nothing makes me happier than sharing something with those who need it most.’
Even though they seem so far apart, football and F1 are both team sports, where achieving the best result depends on teamwork: ‘That’s absolutely true: in your case there are hundreds of people who have worked to fine-tune the cars and then two drivers to drive them; in the same way I can’t score a goal if my friend Dejan Stankovic doesn’t pass me the right ball or if Cristian Chivu doesn’t intercept a pass by our opponents or if Wesley Sneijder doesn’t release a long ball. And none of us wins if Júlio César doesn’t make a good save. To win the Grand Prix, to score a goal, we all have to trust each other and remember that the group always comes before the individual.’ If an absolute star like Samuel Eto’o says it, it must be true.
Source : ferrari.com
You can see that from his friendly smile when he meets you for the first time, from the readiness with which he agrees to sign dozens of autographs, from the joy with which he discovers a place he doesn’t know for the first time, as he did when visiting the Ferrari plant at Maranello. You can see it above all from what he says to you when talking about himself, because someone who has made his career from a childhood dream really can’t be anything but happy.
‘I have always wanted to be a footballer, from when I was a child: it was my dream and I have managed to achieve it,’ says Eto’o. ‘For me football is a game, an incredible pleasure, and I am a very lucky man because I can play football as my job and, above all, because I was born in a country, Cameroon, where there are thousands of children who would like to be the same as me but don’t even have the chance to try. I have managed to do it and, as I said, I am a lucky man.’
It’s true, Eto’o has been lucky, but the road to success hasn’t always been a smooth one. He had to leave his family when he had just turned 15 and move to Europe, to Madrid. ‘It was complicated in the first few years,’ he remembers. ‘My loved ones were far away, in Africa, and I was still a young boy. But my desire to become a footballer was so strong that it made me stay the course in the most difficult times and I was also lucky to meet good people who helped me.
’ The theme of luck is a recurrent one: ‘It’s true, you need a lot of luck in life, not only to succeed and make your dreams come true but also to make a living, especially if, like me, you were born in Africa. I have had opportunities that are offered to very few people in the world and it is primarily for that reason that I set up a foundation, the Fundación Privada, which has the aim of seeing that others also have the opportunity that I have had, especially children, doing things that are perhaps taken for granted in Europe but which inAfrica are terribly difficult. From 2006 I have been working with a group of friends on a series of projects that go from the field of education to building and to cooperation with development. Football has given me everything and I feel obliged to give something back to repay my people. Nothing makes me happier than sharing something with those who need it most.’
Even though they seem so far apart, football and F1 are both team sports, where achieving the best result depends on teamwork: ‘That’s absolutely true: in your case there are hundreds of people who have worked to fine-tune the cars and then two drivers to drive them; in the same way I can’t score a goal if my friend Dejan Stankovic doesn’t pass me the right ball or if Cristian Chivu doesn’t intercept a pass by our opponents or if Wesley Sneijder doesn’t release a long ball. And none of us wins if Júlio César doesn’t make a good save. To win the Grand Prix, to score a goal, we all have to trust each other and remember that the group always comes before the individual.’ If an absolute star like Samuel Eto’o says it, it must be true.
Source : ferrari.com
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