He is the fourth player in Champions League history, after Marcel Desailly, Paulo Sousa, and Gerard Piqué, to have won the trophy two years in a row with different teams.

[14] After brief spells with Anzhi Makhachkala, Chelsea, Everton, and Sampdoria, Eto'o found prolific form again in the Süper Lig with Antalyaspor having scored 44 goals in 76 league games.

He returned the fans' appreciation when he donated €30,000 in meals to travelling Mallorca supporters who made the journey to the Copa del Rey final against Recreativo de Huelva in 2003.

[22] Initially, Real Madrid President Florentino Pérez wanted to buy back the full transfer rights and loan him out again, but eventually the Barcelona deal proved lucrative enough to warrant a sale.

The head of the Real Madrid fan club federation remained unimpressed, however, stating, "This character is a fantastic player, but he leaves a lot to be desired as a person.

[25] After missing out on the previous year's Pichichi trophy, which is given to the top scorer in La Liga, Eto'o edged out Valencia striker David Villa for the award during the final matchday on 20 May 2006 when he scored his 26th goal of the season against Athletic Bilbao.

[30][31] The season started badly for Eto'o, as he ruptured the meniscus in his right knee during Barcelona's Champions League group stage match against Werder Bremen on 27 September 2006.

On 29 November 2008, he scored his 111th career Barcelona goal in all competitions in a 3–0 road win over Sevilla, moving him into the club's top ten all-time goalscorers.

[61] Eight days later, he scored his first UEFA Champions League goal for the team in the final Group F match against Rubin Kazan to help Inter win 2–0 at home and progress to the knockout stage as runner-ups.

[63] He scored his first goal in Coppa Italia on 13 April against Fiorentina in the second of semi-finals to help Inter win 1–0 at Stadio Artemio Franchi and progress in the final 2–0 on aggregate.

"[71] In December, Eto'o played in the 2010 FIFA Club World Cup;[72] he scored against TP Mazembe in the final as Inter won 3–0 and lifted their fifth trophy of the year.

[78] On 23 August 2011, Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala reached an agreement with Inter to sign Eto'o in a three-year deal that made him the world's highest-paid player, with a salary of €20 million (after taxes) per season.

[81] Eto'o scored the opening goal in a 5–3 defeat[82] at home to CSKA Moscow[83] leaving his side four points above Krasnodar with only two games left for qualification to the Championship Group.

[84] Anzhi's billionaire owner Suleyman Kerimov shocked the Russian football world by deciding in August 2013 to scale down the club's ambitions and drastically shrink its budget.

[90] On 8 March, Eto'o opened scoring in Chelsea's 4–0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur when defender Jan Vertonghen sent a backpass straight into his path.

[91] In the second leg of Chelsea's Champions League round of 16 tie with Galatasaray, Eto'o gave the Blues a fourth-minute early lead with his tenth goal of the season, a match they would go on to win 2–0.

[97] On 26 October, Eto'o bagged a brace for Everton, heading in the opening goal and curling in a strike from outside the area, as the Toffees defeated Burnley 3−1.

Eto'o had a blistering start to the season, scoring 13 goals in his first 15 games, and was named the interim player-manager for the team after the previous coach, Yusuf Şimşek, was sacked on 7 December.

In 1998, he was the youngest participant in the 1998 FIFA World Cup when he appeared in a 3–0 group stage loss to Italy on 17 June 1998, at the age of 17 years and three months.

Eto'o scored his sole goal of the 2002 FIFA World Cup when he netted the game-winner against Saudi Arabia during the group stage on 6 June 2002, which was Cameroon's only win of the competition.

In the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, Eto'o became joint leading goalscorer (along with Laurent Pokou) in the competition's history after scoring his 14th goal with a penalty against Zambia on 26 January 2008.

In the following game against Sudan, on 30 January, Eto'o converted another penalty to become the tournament's all-time leading scorer, followed by another goal in the same match that took his Cup of Nations tally to 16.

On 19 June 2010, Eto'o scored a goal in Cameroon's 2010 World Cup group stage match against Denmark, from a mistake by Christian Poulsen.

[115] In June 2014, Eto'o was selected in Cameroon's squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, becoming the third African to participate in four tournaments after compatriots Jacques Songo'o and Rigobert Song.

[119][124][125][126][127] During the return leg of the Champions League semi-final match against his former club Barcelona, Eto'o further demonstrated his work-rate and versatility by playing as a makeshift right-sided attacking full-back or wing-back following Thiago Motta's controversial sending-off.

[134] Beyond his speed and goalscoring, Eto'o was also known for his first touch, close control, and passing ability in his prime; even in his advancing age, he maintained his dribbling skills in his later career, which he used to his advantage to beat defenders and assist or create chances for teammates.

[1] In September 2024 he received a six month ban from attending Cameroon international games due to breaching the world governing body’s disciplinary code.

Referee Fernando Carmona Méndez, however, made no mention of the incidents in his match report, commenting only that the behavior of the crowd was "normal"; two of the abusers were caught and given five-month sporting-event bans after being identified to police by other spectators.

[144][145] Eto'o later declared that the punishment was insufficient and that La Romareda should have been closed for at least one year, but his manager Frank Rijkaard, of Surinamese origin, told him to concentrate on football and stop talking about the incident.

After experiencing regular racist abuse from sections of support in Spanish crowds, Eto'o stopped bringing family members to matches.