Former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Chelsea striker Samuel Eto’o has promised that he will buy a house for Cameroon’s former national captain Norbert Owona.
Eto’o himself has appeared 100 times for the Cameroon national side after having made his debut for the nation back in 1997, scoring 56 goals in total. Owona, who is 67 and played for Cameroon in the 1960s and 1970s, has been living rough on the streets of Douala – the city in which he once played for club Union Douala.
Ex-Cameroon, Barcelona and Chelsea striker Samuel Eto’o has said he will buy a house for former national team captain Norbert Owona, who is homeless and whose plight has been highlighted in a documentary.
According to the BBC, an inguinal hernia forced him to go to hospital, where Eto’o visited him and made his pledge on Sunday. Eto’o has also said he donated 500,000 CFA francs (£686) to Owana, according to another former player, Joseph
Karma – who played for Cameroon at the 1982 World Cup in Spain – has been campaigning on behalf of several players who have suffered difficulties since quitting the game, saying the situation some have found themselves in is “indescribable”.
Owona had written to some government ministers about his state of health and his appeal for help.
BBC Pidgin’s Leocadia Bongben in the capital, Yaounde, said the former Indomitable Lion sounded weak but grateful on the phone.
“Eto’o is a very kind man, very kind,” he told her.
He added that the 37-year-old, a four-time African footballer of the year, had given him about $1,000 (£750) as well as promising to give him a new house.
“I have been homeless with no food to eat,” Owona said.
He complained of “living like an animal” and said it was “unfair to receive such treatment from his country”.
Owona said it was difficult to get medical help because he had no money or home, having spent all his savings to pay for the cancer care of his wife and children.
