Rashidi Yekini
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File:Rashidi Yekini.jpg | |||
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Date of birth | 23 October 1963 | ||
Place of birth | Kaduna, Nigeria | ||
Date of death | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. | ||
Place of death | Ibadan, Nigeria | ||
Height | Script error: No such module "person height". | ||
Position(s) | Striker | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1981–1982 | UNTL Kaduna | ||
1982–1984 | Shooting Stars | 53 | (45) |
1984–1987 | Abiola Babes | ||
1987–1990 | Africa Sports | ||
1990–1994 | Vitória Setúbal | 114 | (90) |
1994–1995 | Olympiacos | 4 | (2) |
1995–1996 | Sporting Gijón | 14 | (3) |
1997 | Vitória Setúbal | 14 | (3) |
1997–1998 | Zürich | 28 | (14) |
1998–1999 | Bizerte | ||
1999 | Al-Shabab | ||
1999–2002 | Africa Sports | ||
2002–2003 | Julius Berger | ||
2005 | Gateway | 26 | (7) |
Total | 253 | (164) | |
International career | |||
1984–1998 | Nigeria | 58 | (37) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Rashidi Yekini (23 October 1963 – 4 May 2012) was a Nigerian footballer who played as a striker.
His professional career, which spanned more than two decades, was mainly associated with Vitória de Setúbal in Portugal, but he also played in six other countries his own notwithstanding.[1]
Yekini scored 37 goals as a Nigerian international, and represented the nation in five major tournaments, including two World Cups where he scored the country's first-ever goal in the competition. He was also named the African Footballer of the Year in 1993.[2][3]
Contents
Club career
Yekini was born in Kaduna, of Yoruba origin.[4] After starting his professional career in the Nigerian league, he moved to Côte d'Ivoire to play for Africa Sports National, and from there he went to Portugal and Vitória de Setúbal where he experienced his most memorable years, eventually becoming the first division's top scorer in the 1993–94 season after scoring 21 goals; the previous campaign he had netted a career-best 34 in 32 games to help the Sadinos promote from the second level, and those performances earned him the title of African Footballer of the Year once, the first ever from the nation.
In the 1994 summer Yekini was bought by Olympiacos FC, but did not get along with teammates and left. His career never really got back on track, not even upon a return to Setúbal, which happened after another unassuming spell, in La Liga with Sporting de Gijón;[5] he successively played with FC Zürich, Club Athlétique Bizertin and Al-Shabab Riyadh, before rejoining Africa Sports. In 2003, at 39, he returned to the Nigerian championship with Julius Berger FC.
In 2005, 41-year-old Yekini made a short comeback, moving alongside former national teammate Mobi Oparaku to Gateway United FC.
International career
Scoring 37 goals for Nigeria in 58 appearances,[6] Yekini was the national record goalscorer. He was part of the team that participated in the 1994 (where he netted Nigeria's first-ever goal in a World Cup, in a 3–0 win against Bulgaria, his celebration after scoring, crying while holding the goal's net, became one of the iconic images of the tournament[7]) and the 1998 FIFA World Cups.
Additionally, Yekini helped the Super Eagles win the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations where he also topped the goal charts and was named best player of the competition.[8] He also participated at Olympic level in Seoul 1988.
International goals
- Scores and results list Nigeria's goal tally first.[6]
# | Date | Venue | Opponent | Result | Competition | Scored |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 6 April 1985 | Nairobi, Kenya | Kenya | 3-0 | 1986 World Cup qualification | 1 |
2 | 20 April 1985 | Lagos, Nigeria | Kenya | 3–1 | 1986 World Cup qualification | 1 |
3 | 23 June 1985 | Abidjan, Ivory Coast | Ivory Coast | 1-1 | Friendly | 1 |
4 | 26 June 1985 | Bouake, Ivory Coast | Ivory Coast | 1-1 | Friendly | 1 |
5 | 14 March 1988 | Rabat, Morocco | Kenya | 3-0 | 1988 African Cup of Nations | 1 |
6 | 5 March 1990 | Algiers, Algeria | Egypt | 1-0 | 1990 African Cup of Nations | 1 |
7 | 8 March 1990 | Algiers, Algeria | Ivory Coast | 1–0 | 1990 African Cup of Nations | 1 |
8 | 12 March 1990 | Algiers, Algeria | Zambia | 2-0 | 1990 African Cup of Nations | 1 |
9, 10, 11, 12 | 27 July 1991 | Lagos, Nigeria | Burkina Faso | 7-1 | 1992 African Cup of Nations qualification | 4 |
13, 14 | 14 January 1992 | Dakar, Senegal | Kenya | 2-1 | 1992 African Cup of Nations | 2 |
15 | 19 January 1992 | Dakar, Senegal | Zaire | 1-0 | 1992 African Cup of Nations | 1 |
16 | 25 January 1992 | Dakar, Senegal | Cameroon | 2-1 | 1992 African Cup of Nations | 1 |
17, 18 | 10 October 1992 | Lagos, Nigeria | South Africa | 4-0 | 1994 World Cup qualification | 2 |
19 | 20 December 1992 | Pointe-Noire, Congo | Congo | 1-0 | 1994 World Cup qualification | 1 |
20 | 24 April 1993 | Enugu, Nigeria | Sudan | 2-1 | 1994 African Cup of Nations qualification | 1 |
21 | 10 October 1992 | Abidjan, Ivory Coast | Ivory Coast | 1-2 | 1994 World Cup qualification | 1 |
22, 23 | 20 December 1992 | Lagos, Nigeria | Algeria | 4-1 | 1994 World Cup qualification | 2 |
24, 25, 26 | 24 July 1993 | Lagos, Nigeria | Ethiopia | 6-0 | 1994 African Cup of Nations qualification | 3 |
27, 28 | 25 September 1993 | Lagos, Nigeria | Ivory Coast | 4-1 | 1994 World Cup qualification | 2 |
29, 30 | 26 March 1994 | Tunis, Tunisia | Gabon | 3-0 | 1994 African Cup of Nations | 2 |
31, 32 | 2 April 1994 | Tunis, Tunisia | Zaire | 2-0 | 1994 African Cup of Nations | 2 |
33 | 6 April 1994 | Tunis, Tunisia | Ivory Coast | 2-2 | 1994 African Cup of Nations | 1 |
34, 35 | 11 June 1994 | Ibadan, Nigeria | Georgia | 5-1 | Friendly | 2 |
36 | 21 June 1994 | Dallas, United States | Bulgaria | 3-0 | 1994 FIFA World Cup | 1 |
37 | 22 February 1998 | Kingston, Jamaica | Jamaica | 2-2 | Friendly | 1 |
Death
Yekini was reported to be ill for an extended period of time. In 2011, news media in Nigeria begun issuing reports of his failing health, and he was said to suffer from bipolar disorder, depression and some other undisclosed psychiatric condition. He died in Ibadan on 4 May 2012 at the age of only 48,[2] the news being confirmed by former national teammates Mutiu Adepoju and Ike Shorunmu;[9] he was buried at his residence in Ira, Kwara State.[10]
References
- ↑ Nigerian football legend, Rashidi Yekini, dies at 49; The Times of Nigeria, 4 May 2012
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Nigeria: Legendary footballer, Rashidi Yekini dies at 48; All Africa, 5 May 2012
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External links
- Rashidi Yekini at footballzz.co.uk
- Rashidi Yekini profile at ForaDeJogo
- Rashidi Yekini profile at BDFutbol
- Rashidi Yekini at National-Football-Teams.comLua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
- Rashidi Yekini – FIFA competition record
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- Use dmy dates from October 2012
- Pages with broken file links
- Pages using infobox football biography with height issues
- 1963 births
- 2012 deaths
- People from Kaduna
- Yoruba sportspeople
- Nigerian footballers
- Association football forwards
- Nigeria Premier League players
- Shooting Stars F.C. players
- Julius Berger F.C. players
- Africa Sports d'Abidjan players
- Primeira Liga players
- Segunda Liga players
- Vitória F.C. players
- Superleague Greece players
- Olympiacos F.C. players
- La Liga players
- Sporting de Gijón players
- Swiss Super League players
- FC Zürich players
- CA Bizertin players
- Al Shabab FC (Riyadh) players
- Nigeria international footballers
- 1994 FIFA World Cup players
- 1998 FIFA World Cup players
- 1988 African Cup of Nations players
- 1990 African Cup of Nations players
- 1992 African Cup of Nations players
- 1994 African Cup of Nations players
- Africa Cup of Nations-winning players
- Olympic footballers of Nigeria
- Footballers at the 1988 Summer Olympics
- Nigerian expatriate footballers
- Expatriate footballers in Ivory Coast
- Expatriate footballers in Portugal
- Expatriate footballers in Greece
- Expatriate footballers in Spain
- Expatriate footballers in Switzerland
- Expatriate footballers in Tunisia
- Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia
- Nigerian expatriates in Portugal
- Nigerian expatriates in Spain
- Nigerian expatriates in Ivory Coast
- African Footballer of the Year winners
- Burials in Kwara State