FIFA has marked the 55th posthumous birthday of Nigeria’s first World Cup goal scorer, Rashidi Yekini on Tuesday.
A photo of the late Yekini, celebrating a goal was shared on FIFA World Cup Twitter handle @FIFAWorldCup.
The tweet read, “Rashidi Yekini, scorer of Nigeria’s SuperEagles’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.”
??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 celebrated Yekini on the federation’s Twitter handle. @thenff.
Yekini scored 37 goals as a Nigerian international, and represented the nation in five major tournaments, including one World Cup in USA ‘94 where he scored the country’s first-ever goal in the competition. He was also named the African Footballer of the Year in 1993.
Yekini died on 4th May 2012 in Ibadan.
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
This article was most recently revised and updated 4 years ago
