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Roger Milla (born Albert Roger Miller on May 20,
1952) is a former Cameroonian football
(soccer)|football player. He is one of the first
African players to be a major star on the
international stage. Amazingly, he did not achieve
international stardom until he was 38, an age at
which most other footballers have long since
retired.

Born in the Cameroonian capitol of Yaoundé, he
moved constantly as a child because of his
father's railroad job. He signed for his first
club in Douala as a 13-year-old. At 18, he won his
first league championship with another Douala
club; in 1976, by which time he had moved to a
club in Yaoundé, he was awarded the African
Golden Ball.

In 1977, he was lured to Europe by the
France|French club Valenciennes. However, he was
kept on the reserves for two years. In 1979, he
joined AS Monaco FC|AS Monaco, but shuttled
between the reserves' bench and the injury list.
The next year, he joined Bastia, but still did not
flourish. He finally found stardom at AS
Saint-Étienne|Saint-Etienne in 1984; he then
starred for Montpellier HĂ©rault SC|Montpellier
from 1986 to 1989, and became a member of the
club's coaching staff after retiring from French
football.

While playing in France, he made his first
appearance for the Cameroon national football
team|Cameroon national team (in 1978). He was a
member of Cameroon's team at the Wc|1982. He first
retired from international football in 1987, and
eventually moved to RĂ©union in the Indian Ocean
for his retirement.

However, in 1990, he received a phone call from
the President of Cameroon, who pleaded with him to
come out of retirement and rejoin the national
team. He agreed, and went to Italy with the
Indomitable Lions for the Football World Cup
1990|World Cup.

Milla emerged as one of the tournament's major
stars. He scored four goals in Italy, celebrating
each one with a dance around the corner post that
has become a popular goal celebration ever since.
Two of his goals came in extra time against
Colombia national football team|Colombia to carry
Cameroon to the quarterfinals, the farthest an
African team has ever advanced at the World Cup
(Senegal matched this feat in 2002).

Milla returned to the Wc|1994 at age 42. In the
United States|USA, Cameroon was knocked out in the
group stages; however, Milla scored the
consolation prize of a goal against Russia
national football team|Russia, breaking his own
record as the oldest World Cup scorer.

He is now an itinerant ambassador for African
causes. In 2004, he was named to the FIFA 100, a
list of the 125 greatest living footballers
selected by Pelé in conjunction with FIFA's
centenary celebrations.