The Confederation of African Football, CAF, pays tributes to two legends when it comes to African Football.
Nigerian International, Perpetua Ijeoma Nkwocha and Cameroon international Samuel Eto'o were recognised following their contributions in the game.
It's understood that the duo picked up the best player in Africa award four times during their football careers.
Samuel Eto'o Fils is a Cameroonian retired professional footballer. The forward made his debut for the Indomitable Lions in 1997. He came on to play as Cameroon lost 5-1 to Costa Rica on March 9, 1997. Eto'o made the cut for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, although Cameroon lost in a 3–0 group stage to Italy.
The former Barcelona star got into the limelight when he scored his first goal in World Cup in the 2002 FIFA World Cup when he netted the game-winner against Saudi Arabia .
Eto'o played for his country for 17 years with 118 appearances and scored 56 goals to become Cameroon all time top scorer.
He won the African Player of the Year in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2010. Also, during his teenage age, he won Young African Player of the Year in 2000. He later retired in 2014 with two AFCON titles in 2000 and 2002.
While Super Falcons star, Perpetua Ijeoma Nkwocha played in seven CAF Women's Championship editions. The midfielder played in 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014 editions of the tournament.
She made her debut in the national team in 1999 and played a total of 99 games scoring 80 goals.
Perpetua also captained the Super Falcons to glory to win five of AFCON titles (2002, 2004, 2006, 2010 and 2014).
With an amazing performances during the competitions saw her win the women's best player in Africa four times. Nkwocha was voted African Women's Footballer of the Year in 2004, 2005, 2010 and 2011.
She eventually retired in 2015. She is currently the coach of Clemensnäs IF from Swedish Women's Football Division 2.
According to the tweet from CAF official Twitter handle, which reads:
"𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 ever male player to collect 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑 African Player of the Year awards: @setoo9 🇨🇲
𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 ever female player to collect 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑 African Player of the Year awards: @perpetuankwoch 🇳🇬
Happy Pioneers day 🤩"
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