The doodle’s colour resembles the Nigerian flag. In the doodle, we can see a goalpost and Rashidi Yekini in action.
Google Doodle, known for its creative and informative homepage doodles, is honouring the great achievements and hard work of the legendary footballer Rashidi Yekini.
About Yekini
Yekini, a legendary Nigerian footballer, was born on October 23, 1962 in Kaduna, Nigeria. As per the official page of Google Doodle, Yekini, to make money, worked as a “welder and mechanic, but his true goal was to pursue football.
He soon began playing in front of scouts and in 1981, he joined his first football club, UNTL FC, in Kaduna.”
Yekini was a talented striker who played for the Shooting Stars next while scoring 45 goals in 53 games.
His spectacular scoring abilities earned him the title of African Footballer of the Year in 1983, and he then became the first Nigerian player to receive this honour.
Next year in 1984, Yekini helped to bring the Shooting Stars to the finals of the African Champions Cup.
Besides Nigeria, Yekini has also played for football clubs in Spain, Tanzania, Saudi Arabia, Portugal, Tunisia, Switzerland, and Greece.
At the time he was playing for a Portuguese team called Vitoria Setubal, he won the Bola de Prata (Silver Ball) for being the league’s top-scoring player in the 1993-94 season.
Yekini passed away on May 4, 2012, in Ibadan, Nigeria. His death was shocking news for all football fans across the world.
He is still remembered as a trailblazer for Nigerian football who left a legacy behind that continues to inspire young footballers in Africa and beyond.
