Nigerian football hero Rashidi Yekini received a Google Doodle on his posthumous birthday. The tech company said this was part of their 60th birthday celebration for the renowned star. Yekini was born in 1963 in Kaduna, northern Nigeria.
“Today’s Doodle celebrates iconic Nigerian footballer Rashidi Yekini, an accomplished forward nicknamed the “Goalsfather” for his ability to sneak shots by the keeper,” Google added.
Google described the striker’s early life as challenging due to homelessness and poverty. He started as a welder and mechanic to generate money, but football was his dream. He joined his first football team, UNTL FC, in Kaduna in 1981 after playing for scouts.
The skilled striker then played for the Shooting Stars and scored 45 goals in 53 games, which was terrific. He was the first Nigerian to win African Footballer of the Year in 1983 for his remarkable scoring. Next year, he helped the Shooting Stars reach the African Champions Cup finals.
He played for clubs in Spain, Tanzania, Saudi Arabia, Portugal, Tunisia, Switzerland, and Greece. He won the Bola de Prata (Silver Ball) for being the best scorer in the 1993-94 season while playing for Vitória Setúbal in Portugal.
Rashidi Yekini helped the Super Eagles qualify for the 1994 World Cup. Yekini made Nigeria’s June 21 match against Bulgaria memorable. The first goal of the game and Nigeria’s first World Cup goal came from him. Overjoyed and proud, he raced into the net and grasped it with both arms, cheering and crying. The Doodle artwork was inspired by one of football’s most famous goal celebrations.
His 14-year Super Eagles career included another World Cup appearance in 1998. He still owns the Nigerian record with 37 goals in 58 appearances. After a long illness, Rashidi Yekini died on May 4, 2012.
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Rashidi Yekini and other posthumous Nigerians are included below
In addition to Rashidi Yekini, Google has honored several Nigerians with Doodles. Google released a Doodle on April 14, 2021, to honor Nigerian highlife legend Oliver de Coque, one of Africa’s most successful recording artists.
The Doodle, designed by Lagos-based graphic artist and illustrator Ohab TBJ, honors the guitarist, who died of a heart attack at 61 in June 2008. Inspiration came from De Coque’s love of the guitar, his aggressive performing style, his music brand, and tradition and culture.
Google honoring the great Nigerian singer Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti with a Doodle on her 119th birthday, October 25, 2019, for all she had done.
Frances Abigail Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti was born in 1900 in Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun state. Her grandparents were enslaved. She was among the first women to attend Abeokuta Grammar School and finish her education there. She then went to Cheshire, England, to continue her education there. Fela Anikulapo Kuti, a huge name in Afrobeats, was her son.
On January 2, 2020, about six years after she died, Google celebrated Nigeria’s Amaka Igwe with a doodle on her posthumous birthday. Igwe is lauded for her accomplishments and innovative work in Nigeria’s entertainment and video production industries. Igwe was the creator of the well-liked television programme Checkmate.
She was famous for her role in “Checkmate,” but she had also been in other artistic projects before that. For example, at the University of Ife, she directed “Barber’s Wisdom.” As an A-level student at Idia College in Benin City, she taught people how to dance the “atilogwu.”
Some famous Nigerians who were born after they died are Buchi Emecheta, a writer and author who will be 75 years old on July 22, 2019. Christy-Essien Igbokwe, a singer of Seun rere who will be 58 years old on November 11, 2018, Stella Adadevoh from the Ebola era, and Stephen Keshi, a legendary Nigerian footballer and coach.