African football legend Samuel Eto'o says he wants to use his business management studies at Harvard Business School in the USA to give back to Africa.

The four-time African Player of the Year winner announced his retirement from football at the age of 38 in September.

Eto'o believes crossing the Atlantic Ocean to the United States for business education will help his quest to give back to the continent.

"I want to help and to make my positive contribution to the transformation of our continent," Eto'o told French news website Jeune Afrique.

"When you're a footballer, you pay people to take care of your career and things generally.

"But when it's up to you to manage people, and you want to develop them, you practically need to learn new skills.

The ex-Cameroon and Barcelona forward, who remains his country's record scorer with 56 goals in 118 games, confirmed his decision to study for life after football.

"In January I will start a business management studies at Harvard University after they kindly accepted me for a specialised training," he explained.

"I will live in Boston for almost a year for this. It won't be easy, but it's a nice challenge and you know I always love to challenge myself."

Eto'o had a trophy-laden professional career in Spain and Italy, but enjoyed much of his club success at Barcelona, where he played from 2004 to 2009.

His trophies with the Catalan club included three La Liga crowns and two European Champions League titles.

He also won the Champions League, under Jose Mourinho, at Inter Milan in 2010, and has an Olympic gold medal, which he won with Cameroon in 2000.

Eto'o whose career also include spells in Russia, Turkey and Qatar is the leading all-time scorer in the Nations Cup with 18 goals.

He appeared at four World Cup finals with the Indomitable Lions - 1998, 2002, 2010 and 2014 - playing in eight matches and scoring three goals.

The striker also won back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations titles with his country at the 2000 and 2002 editions.