Yakubu Aiyegbeni

Profile Football Stars | Yakubu Aiyegbeni | His performances in the 2002-03 UEFA Champions League earned a loan move to English club Portsmouth as a permanent Became the which They were Promoted to the Premier League in 2003. During his spell at Maccabi Haifa, he won the Israeli Premier League on two consecutive Occasions: 2001-02 and 2002-03. He had an excellent scoring record with the club, both in the domestic and international competitions, breaking Several club records. Yakubu's highest scoring season at Haifa was 2001-02, when he scored 13 times in 22 games (League season was 33 matches). 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). Yakubu moved to English club Portsmouth of the First Division (now the Championship) on loan on 6 January 2003. Signed by Harry Redknapp, Yakubu helped Portsmouth win the 2002-03 Division 1 title, scoring at a rate of one goal every two games (7 in 14 matches). The match ended 3-0 with Yakubu substituted for Pericard after 89 minutes. Seven days later, Yakubu scored a goal in each half of a 6-2 victory over Derby County for his first brace in English football.

Yakubu made his loan spell at Portsmouth permanent in May 2003 for a fee of £ 4 million. He played 37 of Portsmouth's 38 Premier League matches in 2003-04, starting all but two. Yakubu's 16 goals made him the club's leading goal-scorer, and joint-sixth highest scorer in the entire league. Yakubu ended the season with 11 goals in his last 10 Premier League matches, starting with one each in four straight games, the first being the only goal in the South Coast Derby versus Southampton on 21 March. Yakubu's 28 Premier League goals Between his two seasons the make him Portsmouth's highest ever scorer in the Premier League, with nine more than second-highest scorer Their Mwaruwari Benjani.

After the 2004-05 season, he transferred from Portsmouth to Middlesbrough for a fee of £ 7.5 million.  Yakubu scored the only goal of the game with a penalty in the first leg of the UEFA Cup last 16 round at home against Roma, giving Middlesbrough a 1-0 victory, who later went through on away goals. Yakubu scored his 100th goal in English football in a league game at West Bromwich Albion early in the 2008-09 Premier League season. He continued his great start to the season with a goal against Standard Liege in the UEFA Cup.

Yakubu's fourth and fifth goals of the league season cam  in an away 3-3 draw at Wigan Athletic on 19 November 2011. On 3 December 2011, Yakubu scored all four goals for Blackburn in a 4-2 home win over Swansea City . He scored two in each half, finishing with a penalty. It was his first hat-trick Blackburn and his first four-goal game since the last day of the 2003-04 season, for Portsmouth against Middlesbrough. He scored two goals, one being a penalty, in his side's shock 2-3 victory against Manchester United at Old Trafford on the 31 December 2011 on the which left him 13 goals for the season in all competitions. On 10 April 2012 Yakubu scored twice, while missing one penalty and scoring a second, in Blackburn's 2-3 loss at home to Liverpool.

In September 2000, Yakubu featured in Nigeria's squad for football at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Australia. Then of Maccabi Haifa, the 17-year old Yakubu wore the number 9 shirt. He scored the injury-time equalizer in Nigeria's first match, a 3-3 draw with Honduras on 13 September in Adelaide. At the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, Yakubu missed an open goal Notably from three meters against South Korea in the last Group game but later went on to score a penalty.

Personal information
Full name Yakubu Aiyegbeni
Date of birth 22 November 1982 (age 29)
Place of birth Benin City, Nigeria
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position Striker

Club information
Current club Blackburn Rovers
Number 24

Youth career
1995-1998 Gateway
1998 Julius Berger

Senior career
years Team
1998 Gil Vicente (loan)
Maccabi Haifa 1999-2003 72 (30)
1999-2000 Hapoel Kfar Saba (loan) 23 (16)
2003 Portsmouth (loan) 14 (7)
Portsmouth 2003-2005 67 (29)
Middlesbrough 2005-2007 73 (25)
Everton 2007-2011 82 (25)
2011 Leicester City (loan) 20 (11)
2011-Blackburn Rovers 25 (18)

National team
2000-Nigeria 57 (21)

Honours

Maccabi Haifa
     Israeli Premier League:
         Winner: 2000-01, 2001-02

     Toto Cup:
         Winner: 2002

Portsmouth
     Football League Division One:
         Winner: 2002-03