If you have watched TV in the last few months you might have seen an advert by a popular cold drink. In this advert, a player for the Cameroonian national team by the name of Roger Milla (20 May 1952), does a little dance after scoring a goal. Milla is considered to be the first major soccer player to do this and it has led to all sorts of post-goal celebrations on the field. 

Signing for his first club in Douala (Cameroons largest city) at the tender age of 13, he won his first league title at 18 with another club. In 1974, he was awarded with the title of CAF's African Footballer of the Year.  

1977 was the year he made the move from African football club scene to the European one. This did not go according to plan as he went from the French club Valenciennes to Monaco's AS Monaco, spending most of his time either injured or benched at both clubs. In 1978, he also started to play for his national team. 

It was only in 1984 that he began to succeed at a French club level. First at Saint-Etienne then Montpellier. He retired from playing football in 1989. In this time he had also played in the 1982 Fifa World Cup (Spain) and in the 1984 Olympics (Los Angeles) as part of the Cameroon national team. 

But it was in 1990 that Milla's time truly came. At the age of 38, when many players have either retired or about too retire, Milla received a phone call from the president of Cameroon, Paul Biya, asking him to join the national team for the upcoming tournament in Italy. He agreed. 

He shone at Italia 90 with his quick bursts of pace, his zigzagging runs, intelligent passes and yes, the Makossa, that hip-gyrating celebratory dance of his. Every time he scored a goal (four in total); he would do this dance around the corner flag. It was an instant hit, the crowd cheered him, and other players emulated him. It is this dance and its subsequent copies that have assured Milla a place in the history books.

He was not done though. In the 1994 Fifa World Cup (United States of America), he scored against Romania and Russia in the tournament at the age of 42. This makes him the oldest goal scorer ever in a Fifa tournament. Currently Milla is a goodwill ambassador for African causes as well as being part of the Fifa 100, this is a list of those who are considered the greatest football players ever.

Sources:
Youtube
Answers.Com
Planet World Cup
FIFA

Page Last Updated 28 June 2010