The League Management Company (LMC) is in the final stages of unveiling the Rashidi Yekini trophy for the winner of the goalscorers’ race in the Glo Premier League season.
The league board, at its meeting last month, ratified the proposal for a Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) awards, aimed at “honouring outstanding players, officials, key stakeholders and fans” of the country’s top flight football at the end of every campaign.
Yekini or ‘Ye-King,’ as he was fondly called, mastered the art of goal-scoring; a wolf in the box, who habitually preyed on lax defense and loose balls, paying close attention to every detail while also creating chances, even from outside of the goal area.
His prowess has since become a yardstick for judging the new generation of marksmen and Nigeria has yet to find another like the Nigerian ‘Goal King,’ who scored 37 goals in 58 matches at full international level.
Hence, the LMC has deemed the NPFL gala as an avenue to immortalise Yekini (1963-2012) who many have opined has not been accorded his rightful position in the country’s football landscape.
“… there are a number of factors that led us to reach the decision to name one of these awards, that of the highest goal scorer after the late Rasheed Yekini,” Shehu Dikko, Chairman of the LMC is quoted as saying on theNFF.com.
“We considered the aspiration factor which seeks to let the players know that they too can become national heroes if they achieve excellence and make a success of their career. It says to them that they too can become legends of the game and the society will honour them as we have sought to honour the late Yekini.”
The LMC also aims to generate monetary and other social benefits from the awards, which would be open to corporate sponsorship. Some companies have began talks with the LMC over their possible involvement.
“The awards is part of strategic plans of the LMC to create commercial value and additional revenues out of the assets inherent in the league property'” Dikko explained.
“We have received a request from the Rasheed Yekini Foundation to provide additional cash support to the winner (in this case the highest goal scorer) and we are studying their proposal. There are already plans to officially unveil the special trophy for this award at one of the league game venues.”
Yekini started his football career with United Textile Mills Limited (UNTL) Kaduna before teaming up with the then IICC Shooting Stars, now Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC) of Ibadan and finally, the defunct Abiola Babes before he joined Africa Sports of Cote d’ Ivoire.
Heartland FC’s Bright Ejike currently leads the NPFL goal chart with 10 strikes after 17 rounds of matches.
