Eto'o: "Racism is an ongoing struggle"

Barcelona player Samuel Eto'o gave an interview to British tabloid The People.





You are well known for your strong stance against racism in the game. Have you taken up this cause as a personal challenge?
Racism is an ongoing struggle, and we must keep fighting it every single day. Like I always say, they can attack us but they will never defeat us. This issue means a great deal to me and we must be prepared to use whatever means necessary. Racism is vile and we must strive to see it disappear from football.

At the age of just 27 you are already a role model throughout Africa. Is that something you are aware of?
Yes, there's no doubt about it, and I want to keep it up so that even more people will take notice of what Im doing in Europe. Having millions of people watch you play and be influenced by what you do is a responsibility. I consider it to be a great honour.

You must be very pleased that it is now Africa's turn to host the World Cup?
Of course. South Africa 2010 will give our continent an opportunity to prove that we can rise to the biggest challenges and achieve wonderful things. I can hardly wait.

Do you expect Cameroon to be involved?
Of course! After the difficult times that we went through on the qualifying trail for Germany, its time that we got back on the World Cup stage. Besides, I'd love the trophy to stay in Africa. Clearly it would be amazing if we could win it, but our continent has other great teams such as Ghana and Nigeria, who can feasibly set their sights on winning the World Cup.


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