Yakubu Aiyegbeni
Yakubu in 2013
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Yakubu Aiyegbeni | ||
| Date of birth | 22 November 1982 | ||
| Place of birth | Benin City, Nigeria | ||
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1994–1997 | Gateway | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1997–1998 | Julius Berger | ||
| 1998 | → Gil Vicente (loan) | ||
| 1998–2003 | Maccabi Haifa | 49 | (24) |
| 1999–2000 | → Hapoel Kfar Saba (loan) | 23 | (6) |
| 2003 | → Portsmouth (loan) | 13 | (7) |
| 2003–2005 | Portsmouth | 65 | (29) |
| 2005–2007 | Middlesbrough | 73 | (25) |
| 2007–2011 | Everton | 82 | (25) |
| 2011 | → Leicester City (loan) | 20 | (11) |
| 2011–2012 | Blackburn Rovers | 30 | (17) |
| 2012–2013 | Guangzhou R&F | 43 | (24) |
| 2014–2015 | Al-Rayyan | 8 | (3) |
| 2015 | Reading | 7 | (1) |
| 2015–2016 | Kayserispor | 12 | (0) |
| 2017 | Coventry City | 3 | (0) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2000–2012 | Nigeria | 57 | (21) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 01:40, 10 July 2016 (UTC). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 13:09, 5 April 2017 (UTC) |
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Yakubu Aiyegbeni (born 22 November 1982), known as Yakubu, is a Nigerian professional footballer who last played for Coventry City. His nickname is "The Yak".
His performances in the 2002–03 UEFA Champions League for Maccabi Haifa earned a loan move to English club Portsmouth which became permanent as they were promoted to the Premier League in 2003. He has since appeared in over 250 Premier League matches for Portsmouth, Middlesbrough, Everton, and Blackburn Rovers, and is the second highest African goalscorer in Premier League history with 96 goals. He is the third highest scorer in the history of the Nigeria national football team, and represented them at four African Cup of Nations finals, the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the football at the 2000 Summer Olympics.
Yakubu Aiyegbeni was born in Benin City, Edo State. A powerful central striker, he started his career with Julius Berger FC in Lagos as a teenager in the Nigerian Premier League. He was later loaned to Portuguese club Gil Vicente.
Israeli side Maccabi Haifa paid Julius Berger $300,000 for his signature. Yakubu's highest scoring season at Haifa was 2001–02, when he scored 13 times in 22 games (League season was 33 matches). He came to England and trained with Derby County but could not obtain a work permit at the time. He scored seven goals in eight European Cup appearances in the 2002–03 season UEFA Champions League, (including a hat-trick against Olympiakos and a penalty in the 3–0 win over Manchester United).
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