Albert Roger Milla

saying, “old is gold”. Roger Milla proved these words at the highest stage of football. Roger Milla is one of the best football players to emerge from Africa. He took the centre stage of international football at the age of 38 by leading Cameroon to the world cup quarterfinals in 1990.It was the first time that an African team made it to quarterfinals of a world cup. Milla was a forward. He is among the list of top 100 footballers published by FIFA. African Football association acknowledged his achievements, when they presented him as the best African player of 20^th century.

Albert Roger Miller was born on 20^th may in 1992 at Yaounde, Cameroon. At an age of 13, Milla joined Éclair de Douala. He moved to Leopard de Douala in 1971.He clinched his first league title with them. He scored 89 goals for éclair de Douala in 117 matches. In 1976, he won the African footballer of the year award while playing for Tonnere Yaounde. He scored 69 goals in just 87 matches for them.

Milla joined Valenciennes club in France in 1977.He moved to Monaco in 1979, after playing two seasons for Valenciennes. While playing for Monaco he collected his first French cup in 1980.He did not make big impact at Monaco as he had injury problems and he moved to Bastia after that season. There too he did not fare well, though he won French cup with them in 1981.How ever things changed when he joined Saint-Etienne in the year 1984.He won French league with Saint Etienne. He left Saint-Etienne for Montpellier in 1986 and he played for them until 1989.He scored 152 goals while playing in France for various clubs. Later he moved to French reunion club JS Saint –Pierroise. He returned to Cameroon and he joined his former club Tonerre Yaounde and played for them from 1990 to 1994.He ended his professional career in Indonesia where he played for Pelita Jaya and Putra Samarinda during 1994 to 1997.

Roger Milla made his international debut for Cameroon in 1978.he played in 1982 world cup. Milla participated in Los Angeles Summer Olympics. He finished his international career in 1987 initially. He spent some at Reunion upon his retirement. However, Cameroon president Paul Biya requested Milla to revive his international career to participate in 1990 world cup. That was a journey towards history. At an age of 38, Milla was very old in that big stage. However, he stunned everyone with his performances. He scored four goals during that world cup. Milla scored two goals against Romania during group stage match. While he scored two goals against Columbia in round of 16.In quarterfinal match against England, he came from bench to set up a goal to level the score 1-1.He scored in penalty shootout also. However, they lost the match. Milla went to the corner flag area and danced around the corner post after scoring each goal. This became very popular goal celebration in world football. Milla played in 1994 world cup to set the record of being the oldest player to play in world cup at mighty age of 42.His goal against Russia gave him the title of oldest goal scorer in the world cup history. After that, he bid adieu to international football. He scored 28 goals for Cameroon in 102 matches.