Anthony Yeboah (born 6 June 1966) is a Ghanaian former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a striker. He is considered one of the most prominent and prolific goal scorers in Ghanaian and African football history and gained a reputation for scoring spectacular goals which often featured in Goal of the Month or Goal of the Season competitions, often celebrated by wagging his index finger towards the crowd. Yeboah is most noted for his time at European clubs

1. FC Saarbrücken 1. FC Saarbrücken (german: 1. Fußball-Club Saarbrücken e. V.) is a football club based in Saarbrücken, Saarland. The club plays in the 3. Liga, which is the third tier of football in Germany. The club began its existence as the football dep ...

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

and

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of thre ...

during the 1990s. He also played for

Asante Kotoko Asante Kotoko Sporting Club, simply known as Asante Kotoko, is a professional football club founded on 31 August 1935 and based in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Nicknamed the ''Porcupine Warriors'', they compete in the Ghana Premier Lea ...

, Cornerstones Kumasi,

Okwawu United Okwawu United is a Ghanaian professional football club based in Nkawkaw, Eastern Region. They are competing in the Eastern Region Division Two League. Their home stadium is Nkawkaw Stadium. History Like any human institution which does not do ...

and Al-Ittihad Doha. He was capped 59 times by

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in Ghana–Ivory Coast border, the west, Burkina ...

, scoring 29 goals. He now runs an international sports agency and a chain of hotels in Ghana. He won the Bundesliga golden boot on two occasions in 1992–93, 1993–94 playing for

Club career

Yeboah was born in

Kumasi Kumasi (historically spelled Comassie or Coomassie, usually spelled Kumase in Twi) is a city in the Ashanti Region, and is among the largest metropolitan areas in Ghana. Kumasi is located in a rain forest region near Lake Bosomtwe, and is the ...

. After spending his youth in

, Yeboah joined German club

in 1988. This move was of some historical significance, because Yeboah became one of the first black players to appear in the Bundesliga. Yeboah had a slow first year, but then scored 17 league goals in his second Saarbrücken year.

Eintracht Frankfurt

He was transferred to

in 1990, where he was at first booed by a section of fans and—being the first black player the team had ever signed—subjected to monkey-noises and other racist insults. In the Hesse metropolis, Yeboah quickly established himself as a deadly striker, silencing all critics, and became the first African Bundesliga club captain. He was the top Bundesliga scorer twice with Eintracht, in 1993 and 1994.

Leeds United

Yeboah joined English club

from Eintracht Frankfurt for £3.4 million in January 1995. In his second season at

Elland Road Elland Road is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the home of Premier League club Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the 14th largest football stadium in England. The g ...

he was voted

Player of the Year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year (POY) . In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is h ...

. Yeboah scored a total of 32 goals for Leeds United in 66 appearances, and is still revered as a cult hero for the

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

club due to a series of memorable goals he scored. His volley against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

and his strike versus Wimbledon in the 1995–96 season were among his most notable goals, and he was a regular feature in Goal of the Month in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

. He told Newstalk's Team 33 in 2014 that his favourite goal was the one he scored against Liverpool. The goal against Wimbledon was awarded Goal of the Season in 1995–96. Until

Gareth Bale Gareth Frank Bale (born 16 July 1989) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a winger for Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC and the Wales national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wingers of his generation a ...

equalled the feat in 2013, Yeboah was the only player ever to win successive BBC

Match of the Day ''Match of the Day'' (abbreviated to ''MOTD'') is a football highlights programme, typically broadcast on BBC One on Saturday nights, during the Premier League season. The show's current presenter is former England international striker Gary ...

Goal of the Month competitions, doing so in September and October 1995. He also scored three hat-tricks for Leeds; the first against

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn professio ...

in the Premier League at Elland Road on 5 April 1995, which made him the third foreign player to score a league hat-trick for Leeds (Cantona v Tottenham in August 1992 was the first, and

Phil Masinga Philemon Raul Masinga (28 June 1969 – 13 January 2019) was a South African professional footballer and manager who played as a striker from 1990 to 2002. He played in the English Premier League for Leeds United, and Italian Serie A for Saler ...

three months earlier in an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

tie). Yeboah's second hat-trick came against Monaco in the

1995–96 UEFA Cup The 1995–96 UEFA Cup was the 25th season of Europe's then-tertiary club football tournament organised by UEFA. It was won by German club Bayern Munich on aggregate over Bordeaux of France. Girondins de Bordeaux went to the finals all the way f ...

on 12 September 1995, and the third 11 days later in the Premier League match against Wimbledon at

Selhurst Park Selhurst Park is a football stadium in Selhurst in the London Borough of Croydon which is the home ground of Premier League side Crystal Palace. The stadium was designed by Archibald Leitch and opened in 1924. It has hosted international foo ...

which included the aforementioned Goal of the Season. A video was released named ‘Yeboah – Shoot to Kill’ while he was at Leeds. Injuries (several picked up while on international duty) restricted his game when he played and kept him out of the Leeds side on several occasions. When George Graham took over as manager, there was a clash of personalities and Yeboah was sold to

in September 1997, having played just six times under Graham.

Later career

Yeboah joined German club

and remained there until 2001, scoring 28 goals. He left in order to join Al Ittihad, where he played under Austrian coach

Josef Hickersberger Josef Hickersberger (born 27 April 1948) is a former professional football player and former coach of the Austria national football team and Austrian club side Rapid Wien. Club career Hickersberger was born in Amstetten, Austria. He started hi ...

International career

He was a member of

's national team for over ten years, and represented his country at three

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

during the 1990s. Yeboah scored 29 goals in 59 appearances for Ghana, the fourth highest goalscoring total in the nation's history behind

Asamoah Gyan Asamoah Gyan ( ; born 22 November 1985) is a Ghanaian professional footballer who last played as a striker for Legon Cities FC and is the former captain of the Ghanaian national team. Gyan began his career in 2003 with Ghanaian Premier Lea ...

, Edward Acquah and

Kwasi Owusu Kwasi Owusu (5 November 1945 – 30 March 2020) was a Ghanaian footballer who played as a forward. He is the Ghana national team's third leading international goal scorer with 36 goals in over 130 appearances. He died aged 74, on 30 March 2020 ...

Post-playing career

On 3 November 2008, he was appointed as the new chairman of the newly promoted

Ghana Premier League The is the top professional association football division of the football league system in Ghana. Officially formed in 1956 to replace a previous league incarnation, the Gold Coast Club Competition (which began in 1933 and ended in 1953–54), ...

club Berekum Chelsea.

Personal life

Yeboah along with his cousin former Mainz player Michael Osei runs an international sports agency called ''Anthony Yeboah Sportpromotion'' and owns a chain of hotels in Ghana (Accra, Kumasi) called ''Yegoala''. He is married and has two children. His nephew, Kelvin Yeboah, is also a professional footballer.

Career statistics

Club

International goals

''African Cup of Nations only.'' :''Scores and results list Ghana's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Yeboah goal.''

Honours

Asante Kotoko *

: 1981, 1982, 1983 *

African Cup of Champions Clubs 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 competition organized by the Confederation of African Football and cont ...

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

Leeds United *

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

runner-up: 1995–96 Al Ittihad *

Qatar Stars League The Qatar Stars League ( ar, دوري نجوم قطر), or the QSL, also called QNB Stars League for sponsorship reasons, is the top level football league in Qatar football league system. Contested by 12 teams, it operates on a system of promoti ...

: 2001–02 *

Emir of Qatar Cup Emir of Qatar Cup ( ar, كأس أمير قطر), also known as the Emir Cup, but changed to Amir Cup starting in 2019, is an association football tournament played every season by 18 first and second division teams. The most successful is Al Sa ...

: 2001–02 *

Qatar Cup The Qatar Cup is a tournament in men's football. It is played by the top 4 teams of the Qatar Stars League after each season. In 2013, the tournament was renamed Qatar Cup. Previous winners Top-Performing Clubs References External links ...

runner-up: 2001–02 Ghana *

African Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

runner-up:

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

* West African Nations Cup – SCSA Zone III: 1982, 1983, 1984 Individual *

top scorer: 1986, 1987 * Bundesliga top scorer: 1992–93, 1993–94 *''

kicker Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (sports magazine), in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the word used i ...

'' Bundesliga Team of the Season: 1992–93, 1993–94 *

African Footballer of the Year African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

third: 1992; second: 1993 *

FIFA World Player of the Year The FIFA World Player of the Year was an association football award presented annually by the sport's governing body, FIFA, between 1991 and 2015 at the FIFA World Player Gala. Coaches and captains of international teams and media representative ...

ninth:

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

* Leeds United Player of the Year: 1996 * Ghana Footballer of the Year: 1997 *

Premier League Player of the Month The Premier League Player of the Month is an association football award that recognises the best adjudged Premier League player each month of the season. The winner is chosen by a combination of an online public vote, which contributes to 10 ...

: March 1995, September 1995

References

External links

Premier League profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yeboah, Tony 1966 births Living people Association football forwards Ghanaian footballers Ghana international footballers Footballers from Kumasi 1. FC Saarbrücken players Eintracht Frankfurt players Leeds United F.C. players Hamburger SV players Asante Kotoko S.C. players Okwawu United players Al-Gharafa SC players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Premier League players Qatar Stars League players Kicker-Torjägerkanone Award winners Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in England Ghanaian expatriate footballers Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in England 1992 African Cup of Nations players 1996 African Cup of Nations players 1994 African Cup of Nations players Cornerstones F.C. players Ghana Premier League top scorers Expatriate footballers in West Germany