By David Gold
May 8 – African football is mourning the loss of Rashidi Yekini, the former Nigerian forward and ex-African Footballer of the Year, who has died at the age of 48.
He was the first Nigerian to win the African crown, and scored his country’s first ever World Cup goal in the United States in 1994 – prompting a wild and memorable goal celebration.
Yekini (pictured above and below), who passed away in Ibadan, had reportedly been suffering from depression and other illnesses recently.
He is the top scorer of all time for Nigeria, with 37 goals from 58 games, and played in the France 1998 World Cup.
He spent much of his career with Nigeria’s Shooting Stars, helping them reach the final of the 1984 African Champions Cup, as well as playing for Africa Sport of Ivory Coast and Vitoria Setubal in Portugal.
“Today I do not think we have a striker who comes even a mile close to how good he was as a striker,” former Nigeria midfielder Sunday Oliseh told BBC’s Sports World programme.
“During my generation, he was the reason we were able to achieve the results we did – because of all the important goals he scored.”
Confederation of African Football (CAF) President Issa Hayatou added his sorrow, saying: “Rashidi Yekini’s fantastic display of skills and talent were evident to the world during Nigeria’s campaigns at the USA ’94 and France ’98 World Cup finals – we will deeply miss him.”
FIFA President Sepp Blatter took to Twitter to pay his respects to Yekini.
“RIP Rasheed Yekini,” said Blatter.
“My thoughts to his family…I have in mind this image of him from the 1994 FIFA World Cup.”
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