Ten Awesome Facts About Rashidi Yekini, Nigeria’s Highest Goal Scorer You Should Know


Rashidi Yekini, Nigerian football legend who played as a striker had a professional career that spanned more than two decades.


We present 10 interesting facts about the late super eagles legend.
1 Yekini was born in Kaduna, of Yoruba origin on the 23rd of October 1963.
2 He started his soccer career as a 17 year-old with the UNTL of Kaduna after which he moved to the Shooting Stars of Ibadan.
3 He scored Nigeria’s first ever World Cup goal in a match against Bulgaria at the 1994 edition in USA.
4 The image of him celebrating the goal by grabbing and shaking the net is one of the most iconic in the history of football.
5 Yekini
set a precedent for Nigerian football when he won the CAF African
footballer of the year award in 1993 as he became the first Nigerian to
win the title. It was a feat achieved playing in Portugal, away from the
French league that had dominated the awards for most of the preceding
years.
6 Yekini helped the Super Eagles win the 1994 Africa Cup of
Nations where he also topped the goal charts and was named best player
of the competition.
7 Rashidi Yekini holds the record of Nigeria’s highest goal scorer with 37 goals in 58 appearances.
8 Yekini played for 10 different club sides both in and outside Nigeria.
9 Yekini’s
marriage did not last as he reportedly fell out with his wife just
after their honeymoon and they never made up till he died.  The late
super Eagles legend had 3 children.
10 He was reported to be ill
for an extended period of time as he was said to have suffered from
bipolar disorder, depression and some other undisclosed psychiatric
condition. He died in Ibadan on 4 May 2012 at the age of 48.

Rashidi Yekini ‘s House In Ibadan

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