Google has paid tribute to the Nigerian footballer Rashidi Yekini by featuring a special drawing on their homepage, celebrating what would have been his 60th birthday.
Yekini went from being poor and homeless to becoming one of Nigeria’s greatest football players.
The Google doodle shows a picture of Yekini celebrating during the 1994 World Cup.
This is about the moment when Yekini scored against Bulgaria in the World Cup. He ran to the net, hugged it tightly, and cried tears of joy because he scored Nigeria’s very first goal in the World Cup finals.
“Google said that many people think it is one of the most famous goal celebrations in the history of football, and it inspired today’s Doodle artwork. ”
Nigeria won against Bulgaria with a score of 3-0. The team then reached the second round of the tournament but lost to Italy.
Yekini has the highest number of goals for the Super Eagles, with a total of 37 goals.
Apart from playing for his country, Yekini also did really well playing for clubs like Shooting Stars of Nigeria, Africa Sport in Ivory Coast, and Vitoria Setubal in Portugal.
In 1984, he played for Shooting Stars and helped them make it to the final of the African Champions Cup. That same year, he also played his first game for Nigeria.
He won the title of the best African football player in 1993.
Yekini got the nickname “Goalsfather” because he was really good at tricking goalkeepers and scoring a lot.
He passed away in 2012.