Roger Milla

Early years

He played for Eclair de Douala's junior team at the age of 13 and engaged exclusively in school tournaments. He later convinced his parents following his impressive performances in age group category matches. He made his debut for Eclair de Douala's senior team in the second division of the Cameroonian championship at the age of 15. Two years later, aged 17, he became the Cameroonian schools high jump champion. He signed up for the top division club Léopard Douala in 1970 at the age of 18 and eventually went onto win three Cameroonian championship titles with the club. He also scored a tally of 89 goals in 116 appearances for Léopard Douala during a tenure of four years. He subsequently moved to Tonnerre Yaoundé in 1974 four years after the successful stint with Léopard Douala. He won the African Cup Winners' Cup with Tonnerre Yaoundé and for Tonnerre Yaoundé club he scored 69 goals in 87 games.

Moving to France

He moved to France at the age of 25 in 1977 where he spent 12 years of his career playing for various clubs. In 1977, he was lured to Europe by the French club Valenciennes. There he scored 6 goals in 28 league games over two seasons. In 1979, he joined AS Monaco, where he won the 1980 French Cup and scored 5 goals in 25 league and cup games. He had endured multiple injury concerns during his short stay and his team management decided to release him at the end of the season. The next year, he joined Bastia, where he spent four seasons.…

Milla was capped 77 times for the national team, scoring 43 goals. Milla made his first appearance for Cameroon in 1973 versus Zaire in a World Cup qualifier. He made his World Cup debut in also what is considered to be the maiden World Cup appearance for Cameroon when they qualified for the 1982 FIFA World Cup after winning both their final round matches against Morocco at the 1982 FIFA World Cup qualification for the African Zone. Milla played an instrumental role in helping Cameroon to qualify for the 1982 World Cup by top scoring in the 1982 FIFA World Cup qualification for the African Zone competition. He endured mixed emotions at 1982 FIFA World Cup having a goal disallowed against Peru in their first match. Cameroon went out with three draws from their three first-round games. Two years later, he was part of the squad competing at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. Milla was also an integral member of the Cameroonian squad which won the 1984 African Cup of Nations where Cameroon defeated Nigeria 3-1 in the final to secure Cameroon's first ever continental title. 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 named in 1986 African Cup of Nations team of the tournament. He was also the joint top goalscorer in the 1988 African Cup of Nations with 2 goals alongside…

Primarily a centre-forward, Milla was known for his combination of physical strength, technique, dribbling ability and direct running. He was particularly effective at carrying the ball towards goal, while his close control and ability to beat defenders made him a dangerous attacking presence. During his time at Montpellier, he became popular with supporters for his skilful dribbling and powerful attacking runs. As he grew older and lost some of his pace, Milla increasingly relied on his positioning, experience and anticipation to remain effective. Former Cameroon teammate Rigobert Song recalled that Milla did not need to cover large distances to influence matches because of his exceptional positional sense, while his experience and maturity enabled him to make decisive contributions. His awareness was also evident at the 1990 FIFA World Cup, when he anticipated René Higuita's tendency to dribble outside his penalty area and dispossessed the Colombian goalkeeper before scoring in Cameroon's round-of-16 victory. Even late in his career, his technique, strength and intelligent movement allowed him to remain a potent goalscoring threat.

He is now an itinerant ambassador for African causes. He also works as a volunteer for various groups including the World Wide Fund for Nature. He also opened two companies for recycling plastic into paving slabs. In 2004, he was named to the FIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living footballers selected by Pelé in conjunction with FIFA's centenary celebrations. He coached Montpellier from 2001 to 2007. He also went onto serve as the manager of the Tonnerre for a tenure of four years between 2007 and 2011.