Rashidi Yekini’s (L) record is being chased by Victor Osimhen (R)
Long before Victor Osimhen began rewriting Nigeria’s scoring charts, there was a man who turned goals into national moments.
His name was Rashidi Yekini, and for three decades, his shadow has loomed over every Super Eagles striker who dared to dream of immortality.
To score for Nigeria is one thing. To define Nigerian goalscoring is something else entirely. That is what Yekini did.
Between 1984 and 1998, Yekini struck 37 goals in 58 appearances for the Super Eagles, a return so ruthless and consistent that it changed how Nigerian strikers were measured.
Meet the two coaches who were fired after AFCON exit
He did not play in an era of packed fixture lists, modern sports science or soft defenders. He played when African forwards had to fight for every touch, every contract, every ounce of respect and he won.
Yekini was not elegant. He was not fashionable but he was unstoppable. Broad-shouldered, gangling and ferocious inside the box, he bullied defenders into surrender. He did not look for beauty, he looked for blood.
His most famous strike came in the summer of 1994 in the United States, when he smashed Nigeria’s first-ever World Cup goal against Bulgaria.
The ball hit the net, but Yekini didn’t run away. He ran into the goal, grabbed the net, and screamed. It was not celebration, it was release. That image still defines Nigerian football to this day.
That same year, he led the Super Eagles to Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) glory in Tunisia, finishing as top scorer with five goals, and months earlier he had become Nigeria’s first African Footballer of the Year.
Before him, Segun Odegbami’s 24 goals was the benchmark. Yekini shattered it with a hat-trick against Ethiopia in Lagos in 1993, then pushed the record to a level no one has touched since.
Now, decades later, Victor Osimhen stands where so many have failed: on the edge of Yekini’s mountain. At just 27, the Galatasaray striker has already stormed to 35 goals in 51 Super Eagles appearances, putting him within touching distance of a record once believed untouchable.
But history has given the chase a dramatic stage. On Wednesday, January 14, 2026, night in Rabat, inside the intimidating Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, Osimhen will lead Nigeria against hosts Morocco in the second 2025 AFCON semifinal.
Two goals will pull him level with Yekini’s sacred 37. Three will crown him Nigeria’s new top scorer.
If Osimhen is to step into Yekini’s shadow, he will have to do it the hard way: against Africa’s toughest opponents, on foreign soil, with a nation watching.
That, perhaps, is what makes the moment so fitting.
FKA/JE
