Eto’o Charity match: Inside view of the event

Journalist James Robinson of dreamfootball, who had the opportunity to cover the charity weekend organized by the Samuel Eto’o Foundation, recounted the atmosphere around the event before and just after the attempted coup failed in Turkey.

The hotel that hosted the guests was a famous one and was the same which had housed the summit of Heads of State of the G20, the 20 richest countries of the planet a year earlier.

Lionel Messi, and the string of former teammates of Samuel Eto’o during his years of FC Barcelona, Mourinho, Eden Hazard, Michael Essien, Kanu, Arda Turan, Kolo Toure and Deco were only some of the expected stars.

With 1,000,000 square meters of area, the golf course that will welcome the Turkish Airlines Open later this year, with water parks having the seal of approval of President Obama just proved that no one would’ve been bored in this place.

Or better still, if it was a little too hot outside, the guests simply could spend time in their luxurious room all day in comfort.

Before focusing on the business of football, a gala was planned in honor of the Samuel Eto’o Foundation, which offers protection to young people, providing them with emergency aid and encouraging education, basic health care, and help with social inclusion for disabled and other disadvantaged of society.

Samuel Eto’o took the floor for a speech that was concluded with a rain of applause.

At the end of the speech and while the steaks were being served, a strange thing happened. The tables reserved for media were quickly emptied. Rumors of a coup attempt began to filter and they were naturally the first to be informed.

Even before the confirmation of the crisis become clearer, all the media attention was elsewhere, which created some confusion.

With the intervention of President Erdogan, (who was also expected at Antalya the next day) to ask the population via Facetime to go out into the streets to oppose the attempted Coup, unsurprisingly, the organizers decided to cancel the charity match.

Although it’s a shame not to have been able to have most of the best players in the world live together on the same stage, with more than 250 people killed, football was forced to take the second place. But it is hoped that the excellent work of the Eto’o Foundation, which gives the chance for a better life through football, continues to unite people.