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Rashidi Yekini

Nigerian footballer (1963–2012)

Summary

Nigerian footballer (1963–2012)

Field	Value
name	Rashidi Yekini
image	Rashidi_Yekini.jpg
birth_date
birth_place	Kaduna, Nigeria
death_date
death_place	Ibadan, Nigeria
position	Forward
years1	1981–1982
clubs1	UNTL Kaduna
years2	1982–1984
clubs2	Shooting Stars
caps2	53
goals2	45
years3	1984–1987
clubs3	Abiola Babes
years4	1987–1990
clubs4	Africa Sports
years5	1990–1994
clubs5	Vitória Setúbal
caps5	114
goals5	91
years6	1994–1995
clubs6	Olympiacos
caps6	4
goals6	2
years7	1995–1996
clubs7	Sporting Gijón
caps7	14
goals7	3
years8	1997
clubs8	Vitória Setúbal
caps8	14
goals8	3
years9	1997–1998
clubs9	Zürich
caps9	28
goals9	14
years10	1998–1999
clubs10	CA Bizertin
years11	1999
clubs11	Al Shabab
years12	1999–2002
clubs12	Africa Sports
years13	2002–2003
clubs13	Julius Berger
years14	2005
clubs14	Gateway United
caps14	26
goals14	7
totalcaps	253
totalgoals	165
nationalyears1	1984–1998
nationalteam1	Nigeria
nationalcaps1	58
nationalgoals1	37
medaltemplates

Rashidi Yekini (23 October 1963 – 4 May 2012) was a Nigerian professional footballer who played as a forward. Yekini is widely regarded as one of the greatest Nigerian footballers of all time. Powerful, fast, and clinical in front of goal. His emotional World Cup celebration became one of the most iconic moments in Nigerian sports history. He was known by his Nigerian team mates and fans as "The Goals Father", he scored more than 480 goals in over 670 games in his career.

Yekini scored 37 goals in international matches and represented Nigeria in seven football tournaments, including two 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. He is the third all time highest goalscorer in Africa Cup of Nations history with 13 goals.

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'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 which happened after another unassuming spell, in La Liga 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 in 58 appearances, Yekini is the national record goalscorer. He was part of the team that participated in the 1994 and 1998 FIFA World Cups. In the 1994 tournament, he scored Nigeria's first-ever World Cup goal in a 3–0 win against Bulgaria; his celebration, crying while holding the net, became one of the iconic images of the competition.

Additionally, Yekini helped the Super Eagles win the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations in Tunisia, where he topped the goal charts and was named player of the tournament. He also represented Nigeria at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.

International goals

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

No.	Date	Venue	Score	Result	Competition
1	6 April 1985	Nairobi, Kenya	3–0	3–0	1986 World Cup qualification
2	20 April 1985	Lagos, Nigeria	2–0	3–1	1986 World Cup qualification
3	23 June 1985	Abidjan, Ivory Coast		1–1	Friendly
4	26 June 1985	Bouake, Ivory Coast		1–1	Friendly
5	14 March 1988	Rabat, Morocco	1–0	3–0	1988 African Cup of Nations
6	5 March 1990	Algiers, Algeria	1–0	1–0	1990 African Cup of Nations
7	8 March 1990	Algiers, Algeria	1–0	1–0	1990 African Cup of Nations
8	12 March 1990	Algiers, Algeria	2–0	2–0	1990 African Cup of Nations
9	27 July 1991	Lagos, Nigeria	1–0	7–1	1992 African Cup of Nations qualification
10	3–1
11	4–1
12	6–1
13	14 January 1992	Dakar, Senegal	1–0	2–1	1992 African Cup of Nations
14	2–0
15	19 January 1992	Dakar, Senegal	1–0	1–0	1992 African Cup of Nations
16	25 January 1992	Dakar, Senegal	2–1	2–1	1992 African Cup of Nations
17	10 October 1992	Lagos, Nigeria	3–0	4–0	1994 World Cup qualification
18	4–0
19	20 December 1992	Pointe-Noire, Congo	1–0	1–0	1994 World Cup qualification
20	25 April 1993	Lagos, Nigeria	1–0	4–0	1994 African Cup of Nations qualification
21	2 May 1993	Abidjan, Ivory Coast	1–0	1–2	1994 World Cup qualification
22	3 July 1993	Lagos, Nigeria	2–1	4–1	1994 World Cup qualification
23	3–1
24	24 July 1993	Lagos, Nigeria	2–0	6–0	1994 African Cup of Nations qualification
25	3–0
26	5–0
27	25 September 1993	Lagos, Nigeria	3–1	4–1	1994 World Cup qualification
28	4–1
29	26 March 1994	Tunis, Tunisia	1–0	3–0	1994 African Cup of Nations
30	3–0
31	2 April 1994	Tunis, Tunisia	1–0	2–0	1994 African Cup of Nations
32	2–0
33	6 April 1994	Tunis, Tunisia	2–2	2–2	1994 African Cup of Nations
34	11 June 1994	Ibadan, Nigeria	2–1	5–1	Friendly
35	3–1
36	21 June 1994	Dallas, United States	1–0	3–0	1994 FIFA World Cup
37	22 February 1998	Kingston, Jamaica	1–0	2–2	Friendly

Honors

Shooting Stars

CAF Champions League 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: 1994; runner-up: 1984, 1988, 1990; third place: 1992
CSSA Nations Cup third place: 1987
CEDEAO Cup: 1990
World Team of the Year: 1996
African National Team of the Year: 1993, 1994

Individual

African Cup of Nations best player: 1994
African Cup of Nations top goalscorer: 1992, 1994
African Cup of Nations Team of the Tournament: 1992, 1994
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 began 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 on 4 May 2012, aged 48. His death was confirmed by former national teammates Mutiu Adepoju and Ike Shorunmu, and he was buried at his residence in Ira, Kwara State, in the presence of family members.

References

Olanrewaju, Oluwatosin. (2026-01-12). "Osimhen Hails Rashidi Yekini As Nigeria’s Greatest Striker Amid Record Talk".
Oyebola, Mike. (2026-01-10). "Rashidi Yekini is greatest striker Nigeria ever produced - Osimhen".
Bajela, Ebenezer. (30 August 2023). "Nigerian footballers with 100-goal landmark". PublisherNG.
Yekini, Rashidi. (24 June 2020). "THE GOALS FATHER: The legend of Nigeria's all time goal scorer.". Medium.
(4 May 2012). "Obituary: Rashidi Yekini (1963–2012)". [[Yahoo Sports]].
[http://allafrica.com/stories/201205050115.html Nigeria: Legendary footballer, Rashidi Yekini dies at 48] {{Webarchive. link. (8 May 2012 ; All Africa, 5 May 2012)
(13 January 2024). "Who are the all-time Africa Cup of Nations top scorers? | Goal.com Nigeria".
"Odegbami: Remembering Gangling Rashidi Yekini". Complete Sports.
"Portugal – List of Topscorers".
"African Player of the Year 1993".
(30 October 2005). "El Sporting remonta dos veces". [[Mundo Deportivo]].
(21 April 2005). "Yekini set for another return". [[BBC Sport]].
"Rashidi Yekini – Goals in International Matches".
(5 May 2012). "Nigeria's first-ever World Cup goal & Rashidi Yekini's five most memorable moments". [[Goal (website).
(21 June 2014). "Rashidi Yekini: 'One of the best African players ever to walk this earth'". [[The Guardian]].
(2012). "The agony of Rashidi Yekini's three-year old daughter". [[Premium Times]].
(19 July 2016). "I want my father's death investigated — Yemisi Yekini". [[The Punch]].
(4 May 2012). "Rashidi Yekini dead: Ex-players react". Tribune.
(May 2012). "An era ends: Rashidi Yekini buried in Kwara as hundreds weep". Premium Times.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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