NIGERIAN SPORTS LEGEND -RASHIDI YEKINI…… "a successful 25years of football career but an impoverished end!"

NIGERIAN SPORTS LEGEND -RASHIDI YEKINI…… "a successful 25years of football career but an impoverished end!"

This edition’s sports legend previews the life and time of a legend of the round leather ball game, Rashidi Yekini who was born in the crocodile city of  Kaduna on the 23rd of October, 1963 and died in his home state Ibadan on the 4th of May 2012 after he suffered from a terminal disease for more than one year.

 Rashidi Yekini played in the striking position and was well built with a height of over 6feet which made a force and nightmare to opposing team defenders.

He was great footballer that Joseph S. Blatter (FIFA president) acknowledged him on his birthday, 23rd October, 2013 even after Yekini’s death.
He started his professional football in Nigeria with UNTL Kaduna from 1981-1982, he moved on to shooting stars of Ibadan from 1982-1984 where he made 53 appearances and scored 45goals. Rashidi signed for Abiola Babes in 1984 and represented the club till 1987 after which he decided to take his footballing trade outside the shores of Nigeria. He moved to Côte d'Ivoire and played for Africa Sports National, and from there he left the shores of Africa and went to Portugal to play for Vitória de Setúbal in 1990 that was then a second division side. He experienced his best and most memorable footballing years with Vitória de Setúbal, he netted a career-best 34goals in 32 games to help Vitória de Setúbal (the Sadinos) promote from the second level. He eventually became the first division's top scorer in the 1993–94 season after scoring 21 goals; and arguably, those performances earned him the first ever Nigerian to win the title of African Footballer of the Year in 1993.
By the summer transfer window of 1994, Rashidi Yekini became the toast of many European teams and was bought by Olympiacos FC of Greece, where he made only 4 appearances and scored only 2goals, he did not get along with teammates and left in 1995 for Sporting de Gijón in the Spanish La Liga. His career never really got back on track as he made only 14 appearances and scored 3goals for the Spanish La Liga side, not even upon a return to Setúbal in 1997 after an unsuccessful career with Sporting de Gijón in 1997. He made 14 appearances and scored 3goals on his return to the Sadinos, which happened after another unassuming spell, in La Liga with Sporting de Gijón. In the later transfer window of 1997, he signed and successively played with FC Zürich, Club Athlétique Bizertin (1998-1999) and Al-Shabab (1999) Riyadh, before rejoining Africa Sports (1999-2002). In 2002, at 39, he returned to the Nigerian championship with Julius Berger FC and played from 2002 to 2003. He finally played for Gateway in 2005 and scored 7goals in 26 appearances.

His club career did not stop him from national duties where he had 58 caps for the national team and found the net 37 times including U.S.A 1994 world cup where he netted Nigeria's first-ever goal in a World Cup, in a 3–0 win against Bulgaria, Tunisia 1994 nations cup where

                                

he topped the goal chart to win Nigeria’s second nations cup trophy and was named the best player of the tournament and not forgetting his exploits in Seoul 1988 Olympics.
Rashidi Yekini did not have an enviable life after his football career as there were reports of total negligence from his fatherland that he served with all diligence. There were reports from his neighbours and friends who gave account of a man who struggled with serious mental and delusional disorder after losing his life savings to a bungled investment. One neighbor spoke of his losing his life savings in a hoax investment another remembered seeing him often around women selling roasted plantain. A former team mate made a supposition of how a discouraging mockery from fans during a crucial match that turned out his last international showing haunted him to a bitter end. Was it really the fault of the government or that of Rashidi Yekini that He was impoverished after a successful football career home and abroad? Well, this is a question that needs begging answers.

Article By

Agu Uchenna Kingsley

mrkckingsley@gmail.com

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