Rashidi Yekini (23 October 1963 – 4 May 2012) was a Nigerian professional footballer who played as a forward. Known by his Nigerian team mates and fans as 'The Goals Father', he scored over 480 goals in over 670 games in his caree

https://medium.com/@thegoalsfather/the-goals-father-the-legend-of-nigerias-all-time-goal-scorer-741844224f40] He is the third all time highest goal scorer in AFCON history with 13 goal

Yekini scored 37 goals in international matches and represented Nigeria in seven football tournaments including two FIFA World Cup, 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.

Club career

Yekini was born in Kaduna, of Yoruba origin. After starting his professional career in the Nigerian league, he moved to Ivory Coast to play for Africa Sports, and from there he went to Portugal and Vitória de Setúbal where he experienced his most memorable years, eventually becoming the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

'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'' gain promotion from the second division, and those performances earned him the title of African Footballer of the Year once, the first ever for the nation. In the summer of 1994, Yekini signed for Greek club Olympiacos, but did not get along with teammates and left soon after. His career never really got back on track, not even upon a return to

Setúbal Setúbal ( , , ; ), officially the City of Setúbal (), is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the entire municipality in 2014 was 118,166, occupying an area of . The city itself had 89,303 inhabitants in 2001. It lies withi ...

which happened after another unassuming spell, in

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

with Sporting de Gijón; he successively played with FC Zürich, CA Bizertin and Al Shabab, before rejoining Africa Sports. In 2003, aged 39, he returned to the Nigerian championship with Julius Berger. In April 2005, 41-year-old Yekini made a short comeback, moving alongside former national teammate Mobi Oparaku to Gateway United.

International career

Scoring 37 goals for

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

in 62 appearances, Yekini is the national record goalscorer. He was part of the team that participated in the

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

(where he netted Nigeria's first-ever goal in a World Cup, in a 3–0 win against

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

, his celebration after scoring, crying while holding the goal's net, became one of the iconic images of the tournament) and the

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

s. Additionally, Yekini helped the ''Super Eagles'' win the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations in Tunisia where he also topped the goal charts and was named best player of the competition. He also participated at Olympic level in Seoul 1988.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Nigeria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Yekini goal''.''

Honors

Shooting Stars *

CAF Champions League The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club (association football), club football competition organized by the Conf ...

runner-up: 1984 * Nigerian Premier League: 1983 Abiola Babes * Nigerian FA Cup: 1985, 1987 Africa Sports * Côte d'Ivoire Premier Division: 1987, 1988, 1989, 1999 * Côte d'Ivoire Cup: 1989, 2002 * Coupe Houphouët-Boigny: 1987, 1988, 1989 Al Shabab * Crown Prince Cup: 1999 Nigeria * African Cup of Nations:

; runner-up: 1984, 1988, 1990; third place:

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

* CSSA Nations Cup third place:

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

* CEDEAO Cup: 1990 * World Team of the Year: 1996 * African National Team of the Year: 1993, 1994 Individual * African Cup of Nations best player:

* African Cup of Nations top goalscorer:

* African Cup of Nations Team of the Tournament:

* CAF Golden Jubilee Best Players poll

Personal life

Yekini married three wives. He had three daughters, named Yemisi, Omoyemi and Damilola.

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 and some other undisclosed psychiatric condition. He died in

Ibadan Ibadan (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the List of Nigerian cities by population, third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano (city), Kano, with a total populatio ...

on 4 May 2012 at the young age of 48, the news being confirmed by former national teammates Mutiu Adepoju and Ike Shorunmu; he was buried at his residence in Ira,

Kwara State Kwara () is a state in Western Nigeria, bordered to the east by Kogi State, to the north by Niger State, and to the south by Ekiti, Osun, and Oyo states, while its western border makes up part of the international border with Benin. Its ca ...

. He was surrounded by his aged mother, brother, wives and children, among others.

References

External links