{"id":3803,"date":"2023-10-23T16:19:24","date_gmt":"2023-10-23T16:19:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/?p=3803"},"modified":"2023-10-23T16:51:45","modified_gmt":"2023-10-23T16:51:45","slug":"rashidi-yekini-60-google-doodle-pays-tribute-to-iconic-nigerian-footballer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/2023\/10\/23\/rashidi-yekini-60-google-doodle-pays-tribute-to-iconic-nigerian-footballer\/","title":{"rendered":"Rashidi Yekini @60: Google Doodle Pays Tribute To Iconic Nigerian Footballer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Google Doodle, on Monday, honours the 60th birthday of Rashidi Yekini, the legendary Nigerian footballer renowned for his goal-scoring prowess and nicknamed the Goalsfather.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Born on October 23, 1963, in Kaduna, Nigeria, Yekini\u2019s journey from a challenging early life marked by homelessness and poverty to football stardom is celebrated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Yekini, driven by his passion for football, worked as a welder and mechanic before catching the eye of scouts. Joining his first football club, \u2018UNTL FC\u2019 in Kaduna, in 1981, he later played for the Shooting Stars, amassing an impressive record of 45 goals in 53 games.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">In 1983, Yekini\u2019s exceptional goal-scoring abilities earned him the title of \u2018African Footballer of the Year,\u2019 making him the first Nigerian player to achieve this honour. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The following year, he played a pivotal role in leading the Shooting Stars to the finals of the African Champions Cup.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Beyond Nigeria, Yekini played for various football clubs in Spain, Tanzania, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Greece, Portugal, and Switzerland. Notably, he secured the Bola de Prata (Silver Ball) in the 1993-94 season as the league\u2019s top-scoring player while with the Portuguese team Vit\u00f3ria Set\u00fabal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">A key figure for Nigeria\u2019s national team, the \u2018Super Eagles,\u2019 Yekini played a crucial role in their qualification for the 1994 World Cup. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">His iconic celebration, clutching the net with both arms and shedding tears of joy after scoring Nigeria\u2019s first goal, remains etched in football history.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Continuing his football career for over 14 years with the Super Eagles, Yekini participated in the 1998 World Cup, scoring a total of 37 goals in 58 games for Nigeria\u2014a record for the most goals scored for\u00a0the\u00a0country.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Google Doodle, on Monday, honours the 60th birthday of Rashidi Yekini, the legendary Nigerian footballer renowned for his goal-scoring prowess<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3804,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3803"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3805,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3803\/revisions\/3805"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}