Tony Yeboah

Tony Yeboah

Personal information
Full name	Anthony Yeboah [1]
Date of birth	(1966-06-06) 6 June 1966 (age 57) [1]
Place of birth	Kumasi, Ghana
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1981–1983	Asante Kotoko
1983–1985	Cornerstones Kumasi
1986–1987	Okwawu United	35	(35)
1988–1990	1. FC Saarbrücken	65	(26)
1990–1995	Eintracht Frankfurt	123	(68)
1995–1997	Leeds United	47	(24)
1997–2001	Hamburger SV	100	(28)
2001–2002	Al-Ittihad	22	(5)
Total		411	(194)
International career
1985–1997	Ghana	59	(29)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Anthony Yeboah (born 6 June 1966) is a Ghanaian former professional footballer who played as a striker.

He is considered one of the most prominent and prolific goal scorers in Ghanaian and African football history and gained a reputation for scoring spectacular goals which often featured in Goal of the Month or Goal of the Season competitions, often celebrated by wagging his index finger towards the crowd. ^[2]

Yeboah is most noted for his time at European clubs 1. FC Saarbrücken, Eintracht Frankfurt, Leeds United and Hamburger SV during the 1990s. He also played for Asante Kotoko, Cornerstones Kumasi, Okwawu United and Al-Ittihad Doha. He was capped 59 times by Ghana, scoring 29 goals. He now runs an international sports agency and a chain of hotels in Ghana. He won the Bundesliga golden boot on two occasions in 1992–93, 1993–94 playing for Eintracht Frankfurt. ^[3]

Club career

Yeboah was born in Kumasi, Ghana. ^[1] After spending his youth in Kumasi, Yeboah joined German club 1. FC Saarbrücken in 1988. This move was of some historical significance, because Yeboah became one of the first black players to appear in the Bundesliga. Yeboah had a slow first year, but then scored 17 league goals in his second Saarbrücken year. ^[4]

Eintracht Frankfurt

Yeboah moved to Eintracht Frankfurt in 1990, where he was at first booed by a section of fans and—being the first black player the team had ever signed—subjected to monkey-noises and other racist insults. ^[5] In the Hesse metropolis, Yeboah quickly established himself as a deadly striker, silencing all critics, and became the first African Bundesliga club captain. ^[6] He was the top Bundesliga scorer twice with Eintracht, in 1993 and 1994. ^[7]

Leeds United

Yeboah joined English club Leeds United from Eintracht Frankfurt for £3.4 million in January 1995, scoring 12 times in 21 league appearances as Leeds finished fifth in the FA Premier League and qualified for the UEFA Cup. In his second season at Elland Road he was voted Player of the Year. ^[8] Yeboah scored a total of 32 goals for Leeds United in 66 appearances, and is still revered as a cult hero for the Yorkshire club due to a series of memorable goals he scored. His volley against Liverpool and his strike versus Wimbledon in the 1995–96 season were among his most notable goals, and he was a regular feature in Goal of the Month in the Premier League. ^[9] He told Newstalk's Team 33 in 2014 that his favourite goal was the one he scored against Liverpool. ^[10] The goal against Wimbledon was awarded Goal of the Season in 1995–96. ^[9] Until Gareth Bale equalled the feat in 2013, Yeboah was the only player ever to win successive BBC Match of the Day Goal of the Month competitions, doing so in September and October 1995. ^[11]

He also scored three hat-tricks for Leeds; the first against Ipswich Town in the Premier League at Elland Road on 5 April 1995, which made him only the third foreign player to score a league hat-trick for Leeds (Cantona v Tottenham in August 1992 was the first, and Phil Masinga three months earlier in an FA Cup tie). ^[12] Yeboah's second hat-trick came against Monaco in the 1995–96 UEFA Cup on 12 September 1995, and the third 11 days later in the Premier League match against Wimbledon at Selhurst Park which included the aforementioned Goal of the Season. ^[13] A video was released named ‘Yeboah – Shoot to Kill’ while he was at Leeds. ^[14] Injuries (several picked up while on international duty) restricted his game when he played and kept him out of the Leeds side on several occasions. ^[9] When George Graham took over as manager, there was a clash of personalities and Yeboah was sold to Hamburger SV in September 1997, having played just six times in the 1996-97 season under Graham. ^[9]

Later career

Yeboah joined German club Hamburger SV and remained there until 2001, scoring 28 goals. ^[15] He left in order to join Al Ittihad, where he played under Austrian coach Josef Hickersberger. ^[16]

International career

He was a member of Ghana's national team for over ten years, and represented his country at three Africa Cup of Nations during the 1990s. Yeboah scored 29 goals in 59 appearances for Ghana, the fourth highest goalscoring total in the nation's history behind Asamoah Gyan, Edward Acquah and Kwasi Owusu. ^{[17] [18]}

Post-playing career

On 3 November 2008, he was appointed as the new chairman of the newly promoted Ghana Premier League club Berekum Chelsea. ^[19]

Personal life

Yeboah along with his cousin former Mainz player Michael Osei runs an international sports agency called Anthony Yeboah Sportpromotion and owns a chain of hotels in Ghana (Accra, Kumasi) called Yegoala. ^{[20] [21]} He is married and has two children. ^[22]

His nephew, Kelvin Yeboah, is also a professional footballer. ^[23]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition ^{[14] [24] [4]}

Club	Season	League			National Cup		League Cup		Continental		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1. FC Saarbrücken	1988–89	2. Bundesliga	28	9	2	0	–		–		2 [lower-alpha 1]	2	32	11
	1989–90	2. Bundesliga	37	17	1	2	–		–		2 [lower-alpha 1]	1	40	20
	Total		65	26	3	2	0	0	0	0	4	3	72	31
Eintracht Frankfurt	1990–91	Bundesliga	26	8	6	2	–		1	1	–		33	11
	1991–92	Bundesliga	34	15	1	0	–		3	2	–		38	17
	1992–93	Bundesliga	27	20	6	5	–		4	5	–		37	30
	1993–94	Bundesliga	22	18	2	1	–		3	1	–		27	20
	1994–95	Bundesliga	14	7	2	1	–		5	3	–		21	11
	Total		123	68	17	9	0	0	16	12	0	0	156	89
Leeds United	1994–95	Premier League	18	12	2	1	0	0	–		–		20	13
	1995–96	Premier League	22	12	6	1	7	3	4	3	–		39	19
	1996–97	Premier League	7	0	0	0	0	0	–		–		7	0
	Total		47	24	8	2	7	3	4	3	0	0	66	32
Hamburger SV	1997–98	Bundesliga	23	3	0	0	–		0	0	–		23	3
	1998–99	Bundesliga	34	14	3	2	–		–		–		37	16
	1999–2000	Bundesliga	24	9	1	0	–		6	3	–		31	12
	2000–01	Bundesliga	14	2	1	0	1	0	9	2	–		25	4
	2001–02	Bundesliga	5	0	0	0	–		–		–		5	0
	Total		100	28	5	2	1	0	15	5	0	0	121	35
Career total			335	146	33	15	8	3	35	20	4	3	415	187

1. Bundesliga promotion playoffs

International goals

African Cup of Nations only.

Scores and results list Ghana's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Yeboah goal.

List of international goals scored by Tony Yeboah

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	17 January 1992	Stade Aline Sitoe Diatta, Ziguinchor, Senegal	Egypt	1–0	1–0	1992 African Cup of Nations
2	20 January 1992	Stade Leopold Senghor, Dakar, Senegal	Congo	1–0	2–1	1992 African Cup of Nations
3	30 August 1992	Accra Sports Stadium, Accra, Ghana	Burkina Faso	1–0	3–0	1994 African Cup of Nations Qualifier
4				2–0
5	25 July 1993	Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex, Monrovia, Liberia	Liberia	2–0	2–0	1994 African Cup of Nations Qualifier
6	23 April 1995	Accra Sports Stadium, Accra, Ghana	Niger	1–0	1–0	1996 African Cup of Nations Qualifier
7	14 January 1996	EPRU Stadium, Port Elizabeth, South Africa	Ivory Coast	1–0	2–0	1996 African Cup of Nations
8	28 January 1996	EPRU Stadium, Port Elizabeth, South Africa	Zaire	1–0	1–0	1996 African Cup of Nations

Honours

^{[4] [25]}

Asante Kotoko

• Ghana Premier League: 1981, 1982, 1983
• African Cup of Champions Clubs: 1983

Leeds United

• Football League Cup runner-up: 1995–96 ^[26]

Al Ittihad

• Qatar Stars League: 2001–02
• Emir of Qatar Cup: 2001–02
• Qatar Cup runner-up: 2001–02

Ghana

• African Cup of Nations runner-up: 1992
• West African Nations Cup – SCSA Zone III: 1982, 1983, 1984

Individual

• Ghana Premier League top scorer: 1986, 1987
• Bundesliga top scorer: 1992–93, 1993–94
• kicker Bundesliga Team of the Season: 1992–93, 1993–94 ^{[27] [28]}
• African Footballer of the Year third: 1992; second: 1993
• FIFA World Player of the Year ninth: 1993 ^[29]
• Leeds United Player of the Year: 1996
• Ghana Footballer of the Year: 1997
• Premier League Player of the Month: March 1995, September 1995 ^[30]

References

1. "Tony Yeboah". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
2. "Yegoala Fitness Club poised to make impact". Graphic Online. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
3. "Aubameyang equals Ghana legend Tony Yeboah's Bundesliga record after claiming golden boot - GHANAsoccernet.com". social_image. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
4. "Tony Yeboah". RSSSF. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
5. Ungruhe, Christian (2013). "Natural Born Sportsmen - processes of othering and self-charismatization of African professional footballers in Germany" (PDF). African Diaspora (6): 203–204.
6. "Anthony Yeboah: Missing The Frankfurters". Eintracht Frankfurt. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
7. "(West) Germany – Top Scorers". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 31 October 2013. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
8. "ON THIS DAY: 1995 Leeds United signed Tony Yeboah from Eintracht Frankfurt". Modern Ghana. 5 January 2015. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
9. "Leeds United: Twenty years on, is this Yeboah goal now regarded as United's best?". Yorkshire Evening Post. 17 August 2015. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
10. "Tony Yeboah talks golazos; Reigniting FIFA vs PES wars".
11. "Anthony Yeboah – I Followed My Dreams". Modern Ghana. 20 February 2008. Retrieved 9 April 2012.
12. LTD, Digital Sports Group. "Hat-Trick Heroes". LeedsUtdMAD.
13. Brenkley, Stephen (23 September 1995). "Yeboah up to his old tricks". Independent. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
14. "Yeboah: Anthony (Tony)". Ozwhitelufc.net.au. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
15. Arnhold, Matthias. "Anthony 'Tony' Yeboah – League Matches and Goals". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
16. "Yeboah goes East". BBC Sport. 11 December 2001. Retrieved 29 August 2007.
17. "Tony Yeboah". worldfootball.net. World Football. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
18. "Top 5 Ghanaian players who made their mark in the English Premier League". Ghana Soccernet. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
19. "We will survive-Tony Yeboah". Modern Ghana. 25 November 2008. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
20. Lomas, Mark (27 August 2013). "Whatever happened to ... Tony Yeboah?". ESPN. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
21. "Anthony Yeboah, Biography". www.ghanaweb.com. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
22. Alderman, Rob (17 January 2011). "What Ever Happened To: Tony Yeboah". In The Stands. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
23. "EXCLUSIVE: Tony Yeboah's son Kelvin signs one-year deal with German side WSG Wattens". Ghana Soccernet. 19 June 2018. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
24. "Anthony Yeboah" (in German). fussballdaten.de. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
25. "Tony Yeboah, one of the first black players to play in Germany". Football Memories. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
26. "Milosevic gives; Villa a touch of magic". The Independent. 25 March 1996. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
27. "Bundesliga Historie 1992/93" (in German). kicker.
28. "Bundesliga Historie 1993/94" (in German). kicker.
29. Pierrend, José Luis (16 January 2014). "FIFA Awards". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
30. "Anthony Yeboah: Overview". Premier League. Retrieved 27 September 2018.

External links

• Tony Yeboah at Premier League