Celestine Babayaro

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Personal information
Celestine Babayaro
Full name	Celestine Babayaro
Date of birth	August 29, 1978 (age 28)
Place of birth	Kaduna, Nigeria
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.76 m)
Nickname	Baba
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	Newcastle United
Number	33
Youth clubs
1994	Plateau United
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1994–97 1997–2005 2005–present	R.S.C. Anderlecht Chelsea Newcastle United	075 (8) 132 (5) 046 (1)
National team²
1995–present	Nigeria	035 (2)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22:02, 15 February 2007 (UTC). ² National team caps and goals correct as of 12:00, 01 September 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Competitor for Nigeria
Olympic medal record
Men's Football
Gold	1996 Atlanta	Team Competition

Celestine Babayaro (born August 29, 1978 in Kaduna, Nigeria) is a footballer who plays left-back and is currently contracted to Newcastle United of the English Premiership.

Babayaro began his playing career at Nigerian side, Plateau United before moving to Belgium and Brussels outfit, Anderlecht in 1994 and made a name for himself through his performances for Nigeria in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, where the African nation won the golden medal.

He was purchased by Chelsea in April 1997 for £2.25m million - a club record paid for a teenager at the time. During his time there, the team won the FA Cup and Charity Shield in 2000, and reached the FA Cup finals in 2002. He faced competition from Graeme Le Saux during his seven-year spell, but played over 200 games for Chelsea. His acrobatic celebrations were a highlight and loved by the Stamford Bridge faithful. He scored some good goals for Chelsea, his last coming away to Leicester in the 2003-04 season. The signing of Wayne Bridge saw Celestine start only four Premier League games for Chelsea in 2004-05 - their Premiership winning year.

He played briefly for Nigeria in the 2002 FIFA World Cup, before quitting international football aged 23. He also made a brief comeback appearance for his country in the 2004 African Nations Cup in Tunisia, but was sent home along with Portsmouth striker, Aiyegbeni Yakubu for "indiscipline".

In January 2005, Babayaro left Stamford Bridge to join Newcastle United where he has established himself as first choice left back.

In September 2006, Babayaro was given a three match ban by the Football Association for punching Liverpool striker Dirk Kuyt in the face while Liverpool took a corner. The punch wasn't seen by the referee but later videos showed Celestine Babayaro punch the Dutchman in the face. Babayaro accepted the allegations and apologised to Dirk Kuyt.

Due to a number of hamstring injuries and suspensions, the tabloids have linked Newcastle with a whole host of new left backs under the claims Glenn Roeder is unhappy with Babayaro's inconsistency. These targets include West Brom's Paul Robinson, Southampton's Gareth Bale and Chelsea's Wayne Bridge.

On February 10, 2007, after the 2-1 win over Liverpool F.C., Newcastle United manager Glenn Roeder revealed that just 12 hours before kick off, Babayaro had called Roeder saying his younger brother had passed away from tuberculosis. Despite this, Babayaro insisted he would still play and put in a solid performance which earned him praise from Newcastle fans and particularly by Roeder. This fine form continued into United's 4-2 victory against Zulte Waregem.^[1]

[edit] Trivia

One of Babayaro's brothers was also a professional footballer. Emmanuel Babayaro, a goalkeeper who was also in Nigeria's 1996 Olympic Gold Medal winning team.
Babayaro is well known for the unique backflips he performs after each goal he scores.

[edit] References

^ Brave Baba's Secret Sorrow

[edit] External links

Celestine Babayaro career stats at Soccerbase

Preceded by Olivier Doll	Belgian Young Footballer of the Year 1994-1996	Succeeded by Emile Mpenza
Preceded by Godwin Okpara	Belgian Ebony Shoe 1996	Succeeded by Emile Mpenza

	Nigeria squad - 1998 FIFA World Cup
1 Rufai \| 2 Oparaku \| 3 Babayaro \| 4 Kanu \| 5 Okechukwu \| 6 West \| 7 George \| 8 Adepoju \| 9 Yekini \| 10 Okocha \| 11 Lawal \| 12 W. Okpara \| 13 Babangida \| 14 Amokachi \| 15 Oliseh \| 16 Okafor \| 17 Eguavoen \| 18 Oruma \| 19 Iroha \| 20 Ikpeba \| 21 G. Okpara \| 22 Baruwa \| Coach: Milutinović

	Nigeria squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup
1 Shorunmu \| 2 Yobo \| 3 Babayaro \| 4 Kanu \| 5 Okoronkwo \| 6 West \| 7 Ikedia \| 8 Adepoju \| 9 Ogbeche \| 10 Okocha \| 11 Lawal \| 12 Ejide \| 13 Afolabi \| 14 Udeze \| 15 Christopher \| 16 Sodje \| 17 Aghahowa \| 18 Akwuegbu \| 19 Ejiofor \| 20 Obiorah \| 21 Utaka \| 22 Enyeama \| 23 Opabunmi \| Coach: Onigbinde