Rashidi Yekini

Rashidi Yekini ( born October 23, 1963 in Kaduna as Rasheed Yekini; † 4, 2012 in Ibadan ) was a Nigerian football player. He was mostly used on the position of the striker.

Career

In the club

After Rashidi Yekini debuted with his hometown club UNTL Kaduna, he moved after six years in the Nigerian league to the Ivory Coast to Africa Sports. From there, he moved in 1990 to Vitória Setúbal in Portugal, where he spent his most successful years of his career. In four years Yekini scored in 108 games 90 Results for Setúbal. 1993/94 he was there with 32 goals in 34 games scorer. As the first Nigerian he was subsequently elected to the African Footballer of the Year in 1993. After the 1994 World Cup Yekini moved to Olympiakos Piraeus. There, however, he was not happy and left the club after just one season. As a result Yekinis career was not more successful. Neither at Sporting Gijon, yet on his return to Vitória Setúbal and FC Zurich he was able to prevail. After further stops in Tunisia and Saudi Arabia, he returned to Africa Sports. With 39 years Yekini 2002 returned to Nigeria Julius Berger FC. There, he finished his career in 2003 actually. But Yekini, 2005, at Gateway FC at the age of 41 years, a brief comeback before he finally finished his career.

In the National Team

In 58 games for the Nigerian national football team Rashidi Yekini scored 37 goals and is therefore scorer Nigeria. Yekini participated in the FIFA World Cup in 1994, where he scored the first goal of his country in a World Cup in the match against Bulgaria ( 3-0), and in 1998 part. 1994 won the African Footballer of the Year 1993, the African Continental Championships, where he as early as 1992, top scorer at the tournament. In 1988 he was a participant in the Olympic football tournament.

Death

May 4, 2012 Yekini died in a private hospital in Ibadan after a short illness. The avowed Muslim was buried in his native Kwara according to Muslim custom. He is survived by three women and three children.