Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
Former Nigeria international striker Yakubu Aiyegbeni has announced his retirement from football at the age of 35 after a 20-year professional career.
The Nigerian began his career at Nigeria’s Bridge Football Club, before playing for Gil Vicente, Maccabi Haifa, and Hapoel Kfar Saba. He then joined the English Premier League, where he managed to score 95 goals in 252 appearances.
He played in the Premier League with the likes of Portsmouth, Middlesbrough, Everton, and Blackburn Rovers and is currently the third highest African goalscorer in the world’s most competitive league, only behind Ivorian legend Dedier Drogba and former Arsenal forward Emmanuel Adebayor.
Yakubu then had brief stints at China’s Guangzhou R&F, Qatari side Al-Rayyan, Kayserispor of Turkey and English sides Reading and Coventry City, where his contract was mutually terminated after suffering from a hamstring injury.
The 35-year-old was capped by his home country on 57 occasions, in which he managed to score a total of 21 goals, becoming Nigeria’s third highest goalscorer, only behind Rashidi Yekini and Segun Odegbami.
