Favourite Son Eto'o Is Pride Of Cup Of Nations Host City Douala

Douala, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Jan, 2022 ) :Samuel Eto'o left for Europe to become one of the greatest African footballers of all time but it was in the city of Douala that he first made his name and where residents continue to idolise the former Barcelona superstar.

Cameroon's economic capital is a loud and chaotic port city, hot and humid.

It is here that the country's Indomitable Lions will face Gambia in the Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals on Saturday as Cameroon come to Douala for the first time in the tournament having played their previous matches in Yaounde.

Eto'o, who also starred for Inter Milan and wore the number nine for his country, moved to Douala with his family from the capital as a young boy.

He was raised in an unremarkable house on a dusty street in New Bell, an impoverished district where the locals are only too happy to talk about the man who put their neighbourhood on the map.

"He grew up here but he was blessed by God," says Valentine, a 49-year-old caterer sheltering from the scorching mid-afternoon sun just across the street from the Eto'o family house.

"Eto'o has helped a lot of people in this neighbourhood. Recently he came back here and laid on food for everyone in New Bell."