The Greatest Cameroonian Footballers of All Time
The 5 Best Football Player in Cameroon Histoy
Cameroon is one of the biggest African nations when it comes to football, having qualified for eight World Cups. This is a record within the continent.
The Indomitable Lions - Pride of Cameroon
The Indomitable Lions have only escaped the group stage once.
However, this forged an extremely impressive run in the FIFA World Cup 1990 in Italy, as they were the first African nation to reach the quarter final after knocking Argentina out.
The Central African nation have also won the African Cup of Nations five times as well as winning Olympic Gold in the Sydney Games of 2000.
As a nation that has won many honours and has been at many World Cups, Cameroon has accumulated an abundance of icons and legends along the way.
In this article, we will decide the top five footballers from Cameroon in history.
5. Thomas N’Kono : Legendary Goalkeeper
Caps: 63
Thomas N’Kono was a legendary goalkeeper who won the African Ballon d’Or twice, making him the only shot stopper to do so. He played between the sticks in Cameroon’s famous World Cup run at Italia 90.
The former Espanol man is recognised as one of the greatest African keepers of all time, but he did struggle for major honours at club level, which is the sole reason he does not rank higher on this list.
N’kono won the peak of African honours with Canon Yaoundé as he won the CAF Champions League twice, and while at Club Bolivar he was a two-time Bolivian champion.
However, he never managed to win any major honours on the European continent, unlike many of his counterparts on this list.
4. Lauren: Versatile Defender
Caps: 24
Goals: 1
Lauren was a key part of Cameroon’s golden era in the late 1990s and early 2000s. This was when they were champions of Africa twice and they also won Olympic Gold.
Lauren’s quality was also significant at club level, where he was part of Arsenal’s “invincibles”, as well as winning another Premier League title with the gunners.
Lauren won four FA Cups on English soil and three with Arsenal, before making the move to Portsmouth where he won it for a fourth time in 2009.
3. Geremi : Hard Working Midfielder
Caps: 118
Goals: 13
Geremi was also a member of the golden era alongside Lauren, and he was a key cognit of two great club sides in Chelsea and Real Madrid.
At the former, he was ever-reliable for Jose Mourinho, with his ability to consistently break up the play and prevent counter attacks. He also won two Premier League titles while in London.
In Madrid, he won a Spanish title. However, much more significant in terms of his legacy was his two UEFA Champions League titles- a feat few Cameroonians can claim.
2. Roger Milla: Dancing Legend of the Game
Caps: 77
Goals: 43
Roger Milla is a two-time African player of the year, and he was Africa’s greatest player of the 1900s. He was even named by CAF as Africa’s player of the century.
Roger Milla had little success in terms of major honours within Europe, but his role in the greatest Cameroon World Cup run in 1990 cannot be ignored.
At the age of 38, he scored four goals in Italy and celebrated each with his iconic celebration around the corner flag.
Half of Milla’s haul came vitally against Colombia in extra time of the round of 16 to send the Lions to the quarter final.
The forward returned to the World Cup stage in 1994 and scored against Russia to become the oldest player to ever score at the World Cup- a record which stands to this day.
Milla won two African Cup of Nations titles in the 1980s. Although he struggled to gather major honours at club level, his scoring record was impeccable across Cameroon and France.
He found the net 405 times over a 666 game career.
1. Samuel Eto’o: The Greatest Lion of them All
Caps: 118
Goals: 56
The number one spot undoubtedly belongs to Samuel Eto’o, and he would likely remain in this position when ranking the entirety of Africa.
Another member of the golden generation around the 2000s, he was an elite striker in European football, winning back to back trebles.
When he left Barca for Inter, he won two European Cups, domestic cups and domestic league titles across just two seasons- which also meant Eto’o’s UCL tally reached three, after success early in his career.
Eto’o was named in the FIFA FIFPro World XI twice in 2005 and 2006.
Eto’o’s national goal scoring record was also very impressive, managing almost one goal every two appearances. His 56-goal haul makes him Cameroon’s record goal scorer, and he also holds the record in the African Cup of Nations with 18 goals.
In 2021, he was named in the International Football Federation of History and Statistics all-time Africa Men's Dream Team.
The forward retires as one of the most deadly forwards of all time, and all of Africa looks up to Eto’o as one of the greatest football players the continent ever produced!
