By Lauren Moore
This week’s School of Cool hero is Benoit Assou-Ekotto…
So who is he?
The Tottenham defender who plays in the Premier League for money, not love. He’s quoted as saying: “I don’t say that I hate football but it’s not my passion.”
Impressive. What else do I need to know?
Although he was born in France, Benoit plays for the Cameroon national football team. Football isn’t his passion, and neither is the tabloid-friendly lifestyle of certain other footballers in England. He has said, “I live an anti football life. I want to live like a normal person.”
So he’s a cool guy, but why is he a Global Cool guy?
Although he may earn more in a week than most of us will earn in our lives, that doesn’t stop the Spurs man hopping on the tube to get about in central London. He takes the Tube to feel like a normal person saying, “I’ve always got my oyster card with me.” While travelling by Tube, Benoit heard about the Evening Standard’s Dispossessed Fund and donated a “significant” amount of money to help fight poverty in London.
Benoit likes to Do It In Public and we think that makes him a pretty cool guy.
