- Rashidi Yekini (Late)
The most prolific goal scorer Nigeria ever
had, he still remains the goal king in Nigeria, after 16 years of retirement from
National team football, his record still stands and is yet to be reached. His
professional career, which spanned more than two decades, started in the early
1980's and retired in the late 1990's. He was mostly associated with Vitória de Setúbal in Portugal, as he
holds a special place in the hearts of the supporters and also in the history
of the club where he played 128 times and scored 93 goals.
He got his first
goal for Nigeria in Nairobi against Kenya on the 6 April 1985, in a
qualifying game for the 1986 World Cup and
after that Yekini scored 36 more
times to become Nigeria highest goal scorer. He represented the nation in six
major tournaments, including two World Cups, 1994 and 1998 and three African
Cup of Nations, 1988, 1990, 1992 and 1994. In 1994 world cup in USA, he scored
the country's first-ever goal in the competition, and who could forget his
famous celebrations which went on to become one of the iconic images of the
tournament, clinging to the net and crying, the goal was against Bulgaria. His last goal was against
Jamaica on the 22 February 1998 in Kingston, at a friendly match. Yekini was
named the African Footballer of the Year
in 1993.
- Segun Odegbami
The second on the
list is striker turn pundit and aspiring candidate for FIFA President Chief Segun
Odegbami. He is regarded as one of the greatest Nigerian players of all
time as his precise style of play gave him the nick name mathematical. He attended
and graduated from Nigeria's Premier
Technical institution, The Polytechnic,
Ibadan. He studied Engineering.
He played 46 times
and scored 23 goals for the National Team, he also played a part in Nigeria’s
quest in winning its first Africa Cup of
Nations title at the 1980 tournament in Nigeria, he was among the top
scorers of the tournament, on tie with Moroccan
Khaled Labied with 3goals each. He scored in Nigeria’s first game, scoring
the third goal with Nigeria beating Tanzania
by three goals to one, he added two more in the final of the tournament against
Algeria, with Nigeria winning three
goals to nil. He was named in the team of the tournament along side with team
mates such as Best Ogedegbe and Christian Chukwu. He played for IICC Shooting Stars of Ibadan his entire career, from 1970 to 1984.
Odegbami won 3 Nigerian Premier League
titles, three FA Cups, his last game
was the 1984 African Champions Cup
final defeat to Zamalek of Egypt.
- Yakubu Aiyegbeni
Nicknamed ‘Yak
the bull’ because of his agility on the ball, his balance and scoring
ability. In one of the clubs he played for, the fans have a saying ‘feed the Yak and he will score’ and that
was in Blackburn where he played 30times and scored 17times in the league.
He has played in
over 6 countries and might still add to that any time soon, he currently
playing for Turkish side Kayserispor
and who knows he might play in the MLS
also, having travelled all over the continent, he played in Portugal with Gil Vicente, played in Israel with two
clubs Maccabi Hafia and Hapoel Kfar Saba, moved to England with
Portmouth, Middlesbrough, Everton,
Leicester, Blackburn and later moved to China with Guangzhou from there to Qatar with Al Rayyan.
He is the third
highest scorer in the history of the Nigeria national football team with 21
goals from 58 appearances. He has represented Nigeria at four African Cup of Nations
finals, the 2010 FIFA World Cup and at the 2000 Summer Olympics. Plenty
football loving Nigerians have not forgiven Yak for his miss against South Korea at the 2010 World Cup,
where his goal would have ensured that Nigeria would qualify for the next stage
of the tournament though he later scored a penalty that saw Nigeria level on
score with South Korea but that wasn't enough to make the team qualify.
- Ikechukwu Uche
He played most of
his career football in Spain, a country he arrived at the age of 18 and left
the country just recently to Mexico where he currently plays for the Tigres UANL.
He is the younger
brother of Kalu Uche who currently
plays in India. Ik Uche like he was
been referred to has appeared twice
for Nigeria in the African Nations Cup, in 2008 and 2013 after making his debut
for Nigeria in 2007. He was part of the squad that competed in the 2008 Africa
Cup of Nations in Ghana, helping the Super Eagles to the quarterfinals, and in
2013 he won the cup with the Super Eagles under Coach Stephen Keshi.
His first goal was
against Lesotho on 8 September 2007,
at the Warri Township Stadium while
his last came on the 15 November 2014 at the Stade Municipal (Pointe-Noire), Congo for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualification. He has a
total of 19goals from 42 appearances with a conversion ratio of 0.42.
- Obafemi Martins
The weapon of mass destruction as he’s
fondly call by some pundits, some football fans call him Obagoal (king of goals). Obagoal
is the only Nigerian to have won the
Serie A, Coppa Italia and Supercoppa
Italiana in same season and that was when he was with Inter Milan.
Obagoal has been in the Nigerian squad for the Africa Cup of Nations in 2006,
2008 and 2010, and for the FIFA World Cup in 2010. He was a part of the
Nigerian team that finished third in the 2006 African Cup of Nations. Martins
scored two goals in the competition, both coming against Senegal in the first round. His future for the national team has
been placed in doubt on numerous occasions after separate incidents of
controversy.
On 17 November
2007, Martins captained Nigeria for the first time, in a friendly match against
Australia for his 19th appearance. Just recently in November, he was called up
to play for Nigeria by the new Super Eagles Coach, after two years absence, he
was called up due to his blistering form throughout the MLS season after
scoring 15 goals in the regular season for Seattle
Sounders which made him win the team’s Most Valuable Player of the Season
as well as the Golden Boot. His call up was to replace Emmanuel Emineike which put end to his National Team Service after
just 4years. He played in two matches of the qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup
in Russia against Swaziland, which was back to back, he came on as a substitute
at the away tie in Swaziland on 13 November, he came in on the 71st
minute for John Obi Mikel and showed some glimpses of the obagoal we all know but it was too late, the match ended in a
goaless draw. He’s currently enjoying his holiday with his family after the
regular season of the MLS has ended.
After eleven (11)
years with the national team he currently seats on the fifth position with 18
goals from 42 appearances with conversion ratio of 0.41.
- Samson Siasia
Joint fifth in
all-time scorers chart with Obafemi Martins, he’s now the coach of U-23 team,
Dream team VI, and they are currently in Senegal playing the U-23 Africa
Championship.
His 18 goals
excluded the three he scored for the Flying Eagles which he played for in 1983
and 1985. His most important goal for Nigeria was the one he scored against Maradona-inspired Argentina in the 1994 World Cup.
He played 51
international matches for Nigeria as he was part of the team that participated
in the 1994 FIFA World Cup and won the 1994 African Nations Cup. He was also a member
of the Nigerian team that won bronze at 1992 African Nations Cup in Senegal. He
participated in the National Team over a period of 11 years and was recognized
in Nigeria as the third leading scorer for the National Team.
In November 2009,
the main field at the Yenagoa Township
Stadium was named in his honour and just recently his mother was kidnapped
in Bayelsa for almost two weeks
while he was on duty with the national team, she has been reported to have been
releases later on.
- Sunday Oyarekhua
A career
policeman, Oyarekhua was discovered
by the national team's coaches while playing for the Police F.C. of Lagos. Oyarekhua scored 17 times in 30 appearances
for Nigeria between 1971 and 1976. He scored on his debut, a friendly match
against the Upper Volta in 1971. He was
the leading scorer in the Nigeria team at the 1973 All-Africa Games. Oyarekhua also played for Nigeria at the 1976
African Cup of Nations finals in Ethiopia. He recently retired as the Assistant
Commissioner of the Osun State Police.
- Austin Jay Jay Okocha
A quick and skillful playmaker, who is widely regarded as the best Nigerian player of his
generation and one of the greatest African players of all time, Okocha was known for his pace on the
ball, technique, creativity, and dribbling skills, as well as his use of
feints, in particular the step-overs. Okocha was loved by Bolton fans that they
“he is so good that they named him twice”.
He is a dual citizenship with Nigerian and Turkey, having acquired Turkish
citizenship as “Muhammet Yavuz”
while playing for Süper Lig team Fenerbahçe.
The name Jay-Jay
was actually passed down from his older brother James, who started playing football first. He began playing
football on the street just like many other football stars, usually with a
makeshift ball. Okocha made his official debut for Nigeria in their 2–1 1994 FIFA World Cup Qualifier away loss
against Ivory Coast in May 1993.It was
not until his second cap and home debut that he became a favourite with the
Nigerian supporters. With Nigeria trailing 1–0 against Algeria,
in a match they needed to win, he scored from a direct free kick to equalise, before
helping the team to a 4–1 win, eventually
securing qualification to their first World Cup. In 1994, he was a member of both
the victorious 1994 African Cup of Nations squad and the World Cup squad who made
it to the second round before they lost in a dramatic match against eventual runners-up
Italy.
In 1996, Okocha
became a member of an arguably more successful Nigerian side, the Olympic Gold
winning side at the Atlanta Games, later nicknamed Dream Team by the Nigerian
press after the USA 1992 Olympic gold winning basketball team.
After a
disappointing Nations Cup in 2002 where Nigeria ended up finishing third, Okocha
was named Nigeria captain after Sunday
Oliseh and Finidi George were
axed from the side. His first tournament as captain came that summer in the
2002 World Cup. Playing in Group E, the alongside Argentina, Sweden and England, Nigeria failed to make it to the next round gaining only
one point in their final game, a goalless draw against England.
Okocha later led
the Nigerian team to a third-place finish at the 2004 African Nations Cup in
Tunisia, with some breathtaking displays, scoring four goals which include a spectacular
free kick against Cameroon in the
quarter finals and most notably the 1000th goal in Nations Cup history against South Africa, and winning the Player of
the tournament and joint Golden boot winner.
After failing to
help Nigeria qualify for the 2006 World Cup, Okocha announced that he would
retire from international scene after the Cup of Nations in Egypt. Injury prevented
Okocha from featuring in any of Nigeria's opening fixtures and he did not regain
fitness until the semi final loss against Ivory Coast. He then played in his
final International appearance in a 2–1 victory in a third place playoff against Senegal, he
was then given a standing ovation by the nearly 60,000 attendance when he left
the field.
In March 2004, he
was named one of the top 125 living footballers by Pelé. Jay Jay Okocha scored 15 goals for Nigeria in a 13-year
career after 73games.
- Julius Aghahowa
Aghahowa became
the first foreign national outside of the former Soviet Union who was among the
best scorers in the Ukrainian Premier League (2000-01). Aghahowa has played for
Nigeria at four Africa (4) Cup of
Nations, the 2002 World Cup and the 2000 Olympics, as well as playing top-flight
football in Tunisia, Ukraine, England and Turkey.
Aghahowa has
played 32 matches and scored 14 goals for the Nigerian national team, including
their only goal at the 2002 World Cup against Sweden. He became Nigeria's top goal
scorer at the 2002 African Nations Cup. He won the Ukrainian Premier League
four (4) times with Shakhtar Donetsk and also won two (2) Ukrainian Cups.
- Asuquo Ekpe
He also has
fourteen (14) goals in his five years with the Green Eagles and Thompson Usiyan,
he also played for Nigeria for 5years. He is a retired Nigerian football
(soccer) player. He holds the NCAA Division I career scoring record and played
in the North American Soccer League, Major Indoor Soccer League, American
Soccer League and Continental Indoor Soccer League. He was a member of the
Nigerian Olympic soccer which boycotted the 1976 Olympics. He made several appearances
for the Nigerian national football team including a 0–2 1982 FIFA World Cup qualifying loss to Algeria on 10
October 1981 in Lagos. He scored on his debut, a friendly match against Kenya
in 1976.
- Daniel Amokachi
Daniel Amokachi often called ‘dan the bull’ in his playing days, as a player he was a striker and he played from
1989 until 2005. He started his career with Ranchers Bees before earning notability by playing outside his
native country with Premier League side Everton, as well as Club Brugge and Beşiktaş before initially finishing his career in the United States
with Major League Soccer club Colorado Rapids. He returned to Nigeria
in 2005 to briefly play for Nasarawa
United, who he went on to manage before moving on to Enyimba.
He was part of the
team that participated in the 1994 FIFA World Cup and 1998 FIFA World Cup and
won the 1994 African Nations Cup. He also helped win the Olympic gold medal in
1996, scoring in the Gold Medal game itself against Argentina. Amokachi sustained
an injury just ahead of the 1998 FIFA World Cup, played one game, but struggled
with knee problems thereafter. After leaving Beşiktaş in 1999, his playing
career more or less ended. He signed with 1860
Munich, but the contract was cancelled after he failed a medical test. He
played forty-six times (46) and scored on 13 occasions.
- Nwankwo Kanu,
He is His called papilo and also called King Kanu by Portmouth fans as he
helped them to win the FA cup during the 2007/2008 season. He is a retired
Nigerian footballer who played as a striker. He was a member of and later
captained the Nigerian national team for 16 years from 1994 until 2010. Kanu
has won a UEFA Champions League medal, a UEFA Cup medal, three FA Cup and two
African Player of the Year awards amongst others. He is also one of few players
to have won the Premier League, FA Cup, Champions League, UEFA Cup and an Olympic
Gold Medal. He made the third-most substitute appearances in Premier League
history, appearing from the bench 118 times. He is also a UNICEF ambassador.
Earlier on at the start
of his career, Kanu was instrumental in Nigeria's overall success at the 1993
FIFA U-17 tournament in Japan and their subsequent 2–1 victory over Ghana in the final. With five goals, he
was second joint-scorer in the tournament with Peter Anosike and Manuel
Neira, behind compatriot and Captain Wilson
Oruma.
He was part of the
team that won the Olympic gold in the football event at 1996 Olympics in
Atlanta, where he scored the winning goal in the 4-3 semi-final win over Brazil. Kanu participated in the 1998
and 2002 FIFA World Cups. On 24 June 2010, Kanu ended his international career
following Nigeria's exit from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. He won 86
caps and scored 13 goals for his country and was the joint most capped Nigerian
player of all-time alongside Muda Lawal,
until Joseph Yobo surpassed both
players in 2012, winning his 87th cap.
Victor Nsofor Obinna
He is a Nigerian footballer
who plays as a second striker for MSV Duisburg.
Obinna played for Nigerian clubs Plateau United and Kwara United where he was discovered by FIFA agent Marcelo Houseman, he went on trials
with Italian clubs Internazionale, Perugia and Juventus before signing with Brazilian club Internacional, but international clearance problems meant that the
transfer was never finalised. He rejoined Enyimba
to take part in their domestic league campaign and CAF Champions League defence. Obinna was a member of the U-20
Flying Eagles that Won Gold in Benin in the African Youth Tournament in 2005 after which he was called up to
the Nigerian senior squad at the 2006 African Cup of Nations, scoring once before
his side's semi-final elimination.
In August 2008, he
was named amongst Nigeria's squad for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
Obinna scored Nigeria's first goal in a 2–1 win against Japan the "Dream Team IV"
winning goal in the final group match against the USA, ensuring that Nigeria
qualified for the quarter-finals. Nigeria was drawn against Ivory Coast who
they beat 2–0, with Obinna scoring a penalty and
setting up Peter Odemwingie for the
other goal. He later captained the Nigerian team when they beat Belgium 4–1 in the semi-final match, before losing to
Argentina in the final. He has played 48 matches and he has scored 13goals.
That’s the list of
the top Nigerian goals scorers, I’m open to corrections and suggestions, if you
think that I got it wrong, maybe I didn’t mention some players or some figures
are not correct, let’s hear from you.
Compiled by Adekunle Adewale (@hrhmayowa)
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