Rashidi Yekini Lives On: FIFA, NFF Celebrate Legend

In one of the most endearing moments in Nigeria football, world football governing body, FIFA, on Tuesday, paid posthumous respect to late former Super Eagles top-gun Rashidi Yekini, on the occasion of his birthday. Yekini, scored Nigeria’s first ever FIFA World Cup goal at the 1994 tournament in the United States of America, and led the team to a well deserved win against Bulgaria — their very first ever World Cup goal. Though the goal was not the best the Nigerian ever scored, his alluring celebration etched the moment in FIFA’s memory stone forever. FIFA, in a tweet via its official Twitter World Cup handle (@FIFAWorldCup), remembered the Nigerian’s World Cup celebration, stating that it would live on in World Cup folklore. See more

??Rashidi Yekini, scorer of @NGSuperEagles‘s first goal at the #WorldCup, would have been 55 today.

The celebration from Nigeria’s record goal-scorer will live on in World Cup folklore. pic.twitter.com/Kfv0waQJLG — FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) October 23, 2018

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), also paid its respects to the legend via the body’s official twitter handle (@thenff), dubbing Yekini, the ‘Yeking of goals.’ See more

Posthumous Birthday shout-out to our legend, ‘Yeking of goals,’ Late Rashidi Yekini. Power, pace and precision best describe Yekini on the pitch. The big man would have been 55 today. He remains the all-time top scorer of the @NGSuperEagles with 37 goals. Rest on legend!??pic.twitter.com/J0PTjZCIZO

— The NFF ??(@thenff) October 23, 2018

Fans also took to their twitter handles to celebrate the icon who many remember as the best number 9 Nigeria has ever had. Yekini was born on the 23rd of October 1963, in Kaduna, and died on the the 4th of May 2012, in Ibadan, Oyo State.