Rashidi Yekini (23 October 1963 – 4 May 2012) was a Nigerian 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. He is all-time top goalscorer for his nation. His professional career, which spanned more than two decades, was mainly associated with

Vitória de Setúbal Vitoria or Vitória may refer to : People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Steven Vitória (b ...

in Portugal, but he also played in six other countries besides his own. Yekini scored 37 goals as a Nigerian international footballer, and represented the nation in seven major

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

s, including two

World Cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

where he scored the country's first-ever goal in the competition. He was also named the

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 ...

in 1993.

Club career

Yekini was born in

Kaduna Kaduna is the capital city of Kaduna State, and the former political capital of Northern Region, Nigeria, Northern Nigeria. It is located in north-western Nigeria, on the Kaduna River. It is a trade Centre and a major transportation hub as the ...

, of

Yoruba The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute ...

origin. After starting his professional career in the Nigerian league, he moved to Ivory Coast to play for

Africa Sports National Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, and from there he went to Portugal and

where he experienced his most memorable years, eventually becoming the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

'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 division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

, and those performances earned him the title of

once, the first ever for the nation. In the summer of 1994, Yekini signed for Greek club

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

, 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 (, , ; cel-x-proto, Caetobrix) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population in 2014 was 118,166, occupying an area of . The city itself had 89,303 inhabitants in 2001. It lies within the Lisbon metropolitan area. In the ti ...

which happened after another unassuming spell, in

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

with

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting (although in an international context this can lead to confusion with Sporting Clube de Portugal) is a Spanish football club from Gijón, P ...

; he successively played with

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a Swiss football club based in Zürich. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League 13 times and the Swiss Cup 10 times. The most recent titles a ...

Club Athlétique Bizertin Club Athlétique Bizertin ( ar, النادي الرياضي البنزرتي) or CAB is a football club from Bizerte in Tunisia. It was founded on June 20, 1928. CA Bizertin have won the Tunisian League four times, the Tunisian Cup three time ...

and

Al-Shabab Riyadh Al-Shabab Football Club ( ar, نادي الشباب), or The Youth Football Club, in English, is a Saudi Arabian professional football club based in Riyadh. It was founded in 1947, and was at first named ''Shabab Al Riyadh''. (), meaning Riyadh ...

, before rejoining Africa Sports. In 2003, aged 39, he returned to the Nigerian championship with

Julius Berger FC Bridge Football Club is a Nigerian football club based in Lagos that was founded in the mid-1970s. As a result of an association with the Julius Berger construction company, the club was known as Julius Berger Football Club until 2010. The cl ...

. In April 2005, 41-year-old Yekini made a short comeback, moving alongside former national teammate

Mobi Oparaku Mobi Patrick Oparaku (born 1 December 1976) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a defender. Club career Oparaku was born in Owerri, Imo State. He played for several clubs in Belgium. In 2000, Oparaku spent one season ...

to Gateway United FC.

International career

Scoring 37 goals for

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

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

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

(where he netted Nigeria's first-ever goal in a

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

, in a 3–0 win against

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

, 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 frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

s. Additionally, Yekini helped the ''Super Eagles'' win the

1994 Africa Cup of Nations The 1994 African Cup of Nations was the 19th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by Tunisia, who replaced original hosts Zaire. Just as in 1992, the field of twelve teams was ...

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 The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

International goals

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

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, depression and some other undisclosed psychiatric condition. He died in

Ibadan Ibadan (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano, with a total population of 3,649,000 as of 2021, and over 6 million people within its me ...

on 4 May 2012 at the young age of 48, the news being confirmed by former national teammates

Mutiu Adepoju Mutiu Adepoju (born 22 December 1970) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played mostly as an attacking midfielder. He spent most of his career in Spain, amassing La Liga totals of 175 games and 22 goals over the course of seven se ...

and

Ike Shorunmu Ike Ibrahim Shorunmu (born 16 October 1967) is a former Nigerian football goalkeeper. Career Shorunmu was born in Lagos. After a few years in Nigeria he moved to play in Switzerland, and made his mark there. He was bought by Turkish club B ...

; he was buried at his residence in Ira,

Kwara State Kwara State ( yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Kwárà), 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 internation ...

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

References

External links