Yisa Sofoluwe (28 December 1967 – 9 February 2021) 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 defender. He won 40 caps and scored one goal for

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

, and was their regular left back between 1983 and 1988, playing at the

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

and

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

African Nations Cups. Born in Abeokuta, Sofoluwe played for defunct

Abiola Babes Abiola Babes was a Nigerian football team that played in Abeokuta. It was owned by Bashorun Moshood K Abiola and was promoted to the Nigeria First Division in 1984. After a period of hiatus in the 1990s, the team reformed in May 2000 but was d ...

of Abeokuta, IICC of Ibadan and

Gateway United F.C. Gateway United FC is a football club based in Abeokuta, Ogun State. They play in the second division of the Nigeria league system, (Nigeria National League). They play their home matches at the MKO Abiola Stadium MKO Abiola Stadium is a m ...

of Abeokuta. He held sway in the right back position between 1983 and 1988, playing at the

and

1988 African Cup of Nations The 1988 African Cup of Nations was the 16th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the soccer championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by Morocco, who replaced original host Zambia. Just like in 1986, the field of eight teams was split into tw ...

in Côte d’Ivoire and Morocco respectively. Yisa Sofoluwe died of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) in

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

on 9 February 2021, amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria. He was 53 years old.Ex-Super Eagles defender, Shofoluwe dies of COVID-19
/ref>

References

{{Nigeria squad 1988 African Cup of Nations {{DEFAULTSORT:Sofoluwe, Yisa 1967 births 2021 deaths Nigerian men's footballers Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria Sportspeople from Abeokuta Men's association football defenders 20th-century Nigerian people Nigeria men's international footballers 1984 African Cup of Nations players 1988 African Cup of Nations players {{Nigeria-footy-defender-stub