Rashid Olatokunbo Oladobe Alao Yussuff (born 23 September 1989) is an English

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 plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Career

Early years

Yussuff is of Nigerian descent but was born in Poplar, London on 23 September 1989. He is often nicknamed ''Toks'' as an abbreviation of his middle name Olatokunbo. Yussuff began his career as a trainee at Charlton Athletic Academy in July 2006 at the age of 17. He scored 8 league goals for the under-18 squad in the 2007-08 Premier Academy League, as well as scoring 2 goals for the under-18s in the

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

. In spite of this, however, he failed to break into the first team and on 1 November 2008 the 19-year-old midfielder was loaned out to

Conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

side

Northwich Victoria {{Infobox UK place , static_image_name = Northwich - Town Bridge.jpg , static_image_caption = Town Bridge, the River Weaver and the spire of Holy Trinity Church , official_name = Northwich , country ...

on an initial one-month deal. Yussuff made his debut for Northwich Victoria on 8 November 2008 in a 1–0 defeat to

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club moved its home groun ...

. He went on to make six more appearances for "The Vics" with his last match being a 1–0 defeat to

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population o ...

on 26 December 2008, after which he returned to his parent club. The midfielder would make his only appearance for "The Addicks" as a 79th minute substitute for

Lloyd Sam Lloyd Ekow Sam (born 27 September 1984) is a former Ghanaian international footballer who played as a winger. Since 2023, he has been a match analyst for MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. He previously served as the color commentator for MLS club Ch ...

in the Third Round of the 2008-09 FA Cup in which

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

beat

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

1–0 at

Carrow Road Carrow Road is an association football stadium located in Norwich, Norfolk, England, and is the home of EFL Championship side Norwich City. The stadium is located toward the east of the city, near Norwich railway station and the River Wensum. N ...

on 13 January 2009, in front of a crowd of 13,997. On 26 March 2009, Yussuff was loaned out to Conference side

Ebbsfleet United Ebbsfleet United Football Club is a professional football club based in Northfleet, Kent, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the club competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club was formed in 1946 from ...

for the remainder of the 2008–09 season. He made his debut for Ebbsfleet United on 31 March 2009 in a 1–0 win over Altrincham. Yussuff scored his first professional league goal for Ebbsfleet United on 13 April 2009 in a 2–1 victory over

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of ...

. Yussuff made 8 league appearances for "The Fleet" in total, the last being a 2–2 draw against Salisbury City on 26 April 2009 before returning to his parent club. Yussuff was subsequently released by Charlton Athletic at the end of the 2008–09 season.

Gillingham

Yussuff joined

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

side Gillingham on trial in July 2009, impressing manager

Mark Stimson Mark Nicholas Stimson (born 27 December 1967) is an English former footballer and is currently manager of Hornchurch. He signed his first professional contract with Tottenham Hotspur in 1985, but was unable to gain a regular place in the team. I ...

enough to be awarded a one-year contract for the 2009–10 season. Yussuff made his

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

debut on 8 August 2009 as an 87th-minute substitute for Jack Payne in a 5–0 win over

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at ...

. Yussuff also came on as a second-half substitute for Jack Payne in a 1–0 defeat to Norwich City in the Second Round of the 2009-10 Football League Trophy on 6 October 2009. Yussuff would go on to make 7 more league appearances for Gillingham in the 2009–10 season, the last being a 1–1 draw against

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

on 26 January 2010. Gillingham were relegated to

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

at the end of the 2009–10 season following a 3–0 defeat by

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their home ...

on 8 May 2010. This resulted in Mark Stimson being sacked on 10 May 2010. Yussuff was subsequently released by the club on 11 May after new "Gills" manager

Andy Hessenthaler Andrew Hessenthaler (born 17 August 1965) is an English football manager and former player who is head of recruitment at club Gillingham. He began his career in non-league football and did not turn professional until he joined Watford at ...

decided not to renew his contract.

AFC Wimbledon

On 30 June 2010, Yussuff signed for Conference side

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional Association football, football club, based in London Borough of Merton, Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 EFL Leagu ...

. He made his debut for "The Dons" on 17 August 2010 as an 83rd-minute substitute for

Sammy Moore Samuel Leslie Moore (born 7 September 1987) is a former English professional footballer who is currently manager of Faversham Town. He made his league debut for Ipswich Town at the age of 19. He went on to play for both Brentford and Stevena ...

in a 2–0 win over

Histon Histon is a village and civil parish in the South Cambridgeshire district, in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is immediately north of Cambridge – and is separated from the city – by the A14 road (England), A14 road which r ...

. Yussuff's first starting appearance for "The Dons" came in a 1–0 defeat to

Rushden & Diamonds Rushden & Diamonds Football Club was an association football club based in Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire, England. Nicknamed "The Diamonds", the club played at Nene Park. The club's main rivals were county neighbours Kettering Town. The cl ...

on 24 August 2010. He scored his first goal for AFC Wimbledon in a 2–1 win over

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

on 9 October 2010. Yussuff was a key member of "The Dons" squad during their push for promotion, scoring 6 league goals in 40 appearances in the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season. The midfielder's biggest honour to date for "The Dons" came when manager Terry Brown selected him to start in the 2011 Conference play-off final against

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

on 21 May 2011 at the

City of Manchester Stadium The City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England, also known as the Etihad Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is the home of Premier League club Manchester City F.C., with a domestic football capacity of 53,400, making it the 6th-largest ...

in front of a crowd of 18,195. The match went down to a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

after the game ended 0–0 in extra time with AFC Wimbledon eventually winning 4–3, resulting in promotion to the football league. Yussuff will also be remembered as being part of the starting eleven in AFC Wimbledon's inaugural football league match against

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been c ...

on 6 August 2011, which ultimately ended in a 3–2 defeat. Yussuff scored his first football league goal in a 2–0 victory over

Dagenham & Redbridge Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club is a professional association football club based in Dagenham, Greater London, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Often known simply as Dag ...

on 13 August 2011. In total Yussuff scored 5 league goals in 40 appearances during the 2011–12 season. Yussuff made his 100th league appearance for AFC Wimbledon in a 1–0 win over

Aldershot Town Aldershot Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area i ...

on 16 March 2013. In January 2014, Yussuff was released by AFC Wimbledon having made 150 league appearances for the club.

Íþróttabandalag Akraness

On 31 March 2017 he signed a contract with ÍA Akranes.

International career

Rashid Yussuff made his only appearance for England under-18s on 27 March 2007 in a 4–1 win over Netherlands under-18s, coming on as an 87th-minute substitute for

Daniel Sturridge Daniel Andre Sturridge (; born 1 September 1989) is an English professional footballer who last played as a striker. As well as representing England, he has played in the Premier League for Manchester City, Chelsea, Bolton Wanderers, Liverpool ...

Honours

;

Conference National The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profes ...

Play-off Winners:

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Yussuff, Rashid Living people Footballers from Poplar, London English footballers Association football midfielders Charlton Athletic F.C. players Northwich Victoria F.C. players Ebbsfleet United F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players AFC Wimbledon players Margate F.C. players Hayes & Yeading United F.C. players Żebbuġ Rangers F.C. players Arka Gdynia players Ekstraklasa players English Football League players English expatriate sportspeople in Poland Expatriate footballers in Poland English expatriate sportspeople in Iceland Expatriate footballers in Iceland National League (English football) players Black British sportspeople English people of Nigerian descent 1989 births