Former Super Eagles forward dare-devil striker, Yakubu Aiyegbeni, who recently announced his retirement from football at the age of 35, has opened up on his glittering career, saying playing in England shaped his soccer career.
‘The Yak’, as he is fondly called, last wore the jersey of Coventry City and gave kudos to English football coaches and administrators for making him a refined player before his retirement on November 22, 2017. Aiyegbeni also played for Portsmouth, Middlesbrough, Everton, Leicester City, Blackburn Rovers and Reading in England.
Born on November 22, 1982 in Benin City, Edo State, Aiyegbeni began his career at Julius Berger in 1996 before joining Maccabi Haifa after completing his loan move from Gil Vicente. At the dot of his 35 birthday, Aiyegbeni decided to call it quits with the game that brought him to the limelight.
“I would like to officially announce my retirement from professional football today,” Aiyegbeni told recently told reporters.
“First, I would like to thank God for the career I have had. I would like to thank the entire Nigerian Football Federation and my Nigerian national team-mates for all the memorable years I had playing for the Super Eagles.
“I would also like to thank all the football clubs I played for. The managers, all club staff, owners, fellow players and my dearest family and friends who immensely supported me throughout my career.
“When I started my career at Julius Berger in Nigeria all those years ago in 1997, I could only have dreamt of the success that was to follow years after.
“Also playing in England especially helped me grow as a player and as a person so much that I am now settled here. I feel the time is right for me to now focus on the next chapter in my life.”
Going down memory lane, Aiyegbeni was a member of the Super Eagles squad at the 2002, 2004, 2008 and 2010 African Nations Cup, and started all the group matches at the 2010 World Cup.
During his time in the Premier League, Yakubu set a record that still stands today as Nigeria’s highest goalscorer in the history of the Premier League with 95 goals.
Former Arsenal striker Kanu Nwankwo amassed 54 goals in 273 Premier League matches and is second on the list of top Nigerian scorers, followed by ex-Norwich City star Efan Ekoku who has 52 goals to his name.
Of the top 10 Nigerian scorers in Premier League history, only Chelsea’s Victor Moses is still active in the league.
Still going down memory lane, Aiyegbeni has scored 21 goals in his 57 appearances for the Super Eagles since his 2000 debut and he is currently the third highest international goalscorer for Nigeria.
He featured in Nigeria’s squad for football at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Australia. He scored the injury-time equaliser in Nigeria’s first match, a 3–3 draw with Honduras on September 13, in Adelaide. Aiyegbeni also played against the hosts Australia on September 16, in Sydney as his side won 3–2 but did not play on September 19, as they drew with Italy in Adelaide. Aiyegbeni featured in the quarter-finals as Nigeria lost 4–1 to Chile in Melbourne on September 23.
At the international level, Aiyegbeni made his full international debut on April 22, 2000 in a 4–0 home win in Lagos against Eritrea in qualification for the 2002 African Cup of Nations. He scored his first international goal in an away win against Namibia on June 16, 2001 in the same qualification campaign. On July 1, 2001, he scored his first international brace, with the second and fourth goals in a 4–0 away win over Sudan in the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification stage.
Aiyegbeni was named in the squad for the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations in Mali and was given the Number 8 shirt by manager Shuaibu Amodu. On February 9, 2002, Aiyegbeni scored the only goal of the third-place play-off against Mali after 29 minutes. However, he was not named later in the year in the squad selected by new manager Festus Onigbinde for the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea.
On June 7, 2003, Yakubu scored Nigeria’s first two goals as they came from behind to beat Malawi 4–1 in a qualifier for the 2004 African Cup of Nations. He retained the number 8 shirt in the squad named for the finals in Tunisia by manager Christian Chukwu but did not score. Alongside Celestine Babayaro and Victor Agali, he was sent home from the tournament for indiscipline. His then manager at Portsmouth, Harry Redknapp, said he cared less about the tournament and was glad to have ‘Yak’ back.
During the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification, Aiyegbeni scored the final goal in an away 3–0 victory over Zimbabwe and an equaliser in an away 1–1 draw against Gabon as Nigeria were beaten to the qualification place by Angola, thus missing the finals for the first time since 1994. Despite having a goal difference superior by +14 to +8, Nigeria did not qualify as the tie-break was on head-to-head between Nigeria and Angola.
In 2008, Yakubu married Yvonne Lameen Ikhana, the daughter of former Nigerian international footballer Kadiri Ikhana, who is also the father-in-law to former Nigerian international footballer, Patrick Ovie. They have two daughters named Kayla and Katriel.
