[6] Milla frequently celebrated goals by running to the corner flag and performing a dance similar to the lambada.

[8] At the time of his retirement, he was regarded as the all-time topscorer from African region in FIFA World Cup finals with five goals and his record was eventually surpassed by Ghana's Asamoah Gyan.

His birth certificate as well as his passport implies his name as Roger Miller due to a clerical error and misunderstanding.

He was raised up in the streets of Yaoundé and he hailed from a typical middle-class family so that his parents were able to provide him a satisfactory education.

He nearly quit the sport after his mother's untimely death at home during the time when he played soccer in a distant arena and also due to his wife had become pregnant as the couple were awaiting for their second child.

[12] He played for Eclair de Douala's junior team at the age of 13 and engaged exclusively in school tournaments.

[10] He had endured multiple injury concerns during his short stay and his team management decided to release him at the end of the season.

He next moved to Saint-Etienne in 1984 and became a crucial member of the club, which was recovering from the aftermath of a massive bribery scandal in 1982 and the subsequent relegation to Division 2, having had to sell out most of its first-choice players.

[10] Milla left French football at the age of 37 in 1989 and moved to Réunion in the Indian Ocean where he played for JS Saint-Pierroise.

He closed out his playing days with two clubs in Indonesia after the 1994 World Cup, retiring from the sport at the end of the 1996 season.

[16] He was a key member of the Cameroonian side which emerged as runners-up to Egypt in the final of the 1986 African Cup of Nations and he received the best player award in the tournament for being the top goal scorer with 4.

He was also the joint top goalscorer in the 1988 African Cup of Nations with 2 goals alongside Algeria's Lakhdar Belloumi, Abdoulaye Traoré of Ivory Coast and Gamal Abdelhamid of Egypt.

[17] However, in 1990, he received a phone call from the President of Cameroon Paul Biya, who pleaded with him to come out of international retirement and rejoin the national team.

[19] It is also reported that most of the Cameroonian teammates and the national head coach Valery Nepomnyashchy who is a Russian did not want Milla to be part of the 1990 FIFA World Cup.

His two crucial goals came in the second half of the match against Romania within just two minutes in extra time where he once again appeared as a substitute and following his heroics, he was hailed as a hero in Cameroon.

[23][24] It was the coach Valery Nepomnyashchy who decided to bring in Milla a bit earlier in the game against Romania knowing full well that a victory would secure Cameroon's spot in the knockout stages and the coach later acknowledged the importance of Milla after his important late cameo in Cameroon's remarkable upset victory over defending world champions Argentina.

However, he was removed from the position as honorary president in May 2012 after criticising the top officials of the Cameroon Football Federation with regards to the lengthy ban imposed on Samuel Eto'o.

[34][35] His wily celebration in a kind of Makossa dance at corner flag area during the 1990 FIFA World Cup changed the perceptions of how people started to see African football in a positive manner.

[36] He became the talk of the town and tournament sensation during the 1990 FIFA World Cup mainly for his skill sets on the field, dance celebrations and for his technique.

[37] In 2020, he along with the Cameroonian teammates received three bedroom bungalows as gifts in recognition of their stellar run during the 1990 FIFA World Cup.