Tony Yeboah

Anthony "Tony" Yeboah (born 6 June 1966 in Kumasi) is a Ghanaian former footballer most noted for his time at European clubs 1. FC Saarbrücken, Eintracht Frankfurt, Leeds United and Hamburger SV during the 1990s. He now runs an international sports agency and a chain of hotels in Ghana.

Background

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. He was a member of Ghana's national team for ten years, and represented his country at three African Cup Of Nations during the 1990s. Yeboah scored 29 goals in 59 appearances for Ghana, the second highest goalscoring total in the nation's history behind Abedi Ayew Pele.

Club career

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 only the second black player to appear in the Bundesliga, only pre-dated by fellow Ghanaian Anthony Baffoe who had been born and raised in Germany. This was a time where the Bundesliga was dominated by Caucasian players (in fact, many squads were all-German, except for one or two European foreigners).

Yeboah had a slow first year, but then scored 17 goals in his second Saarbrücken year. He was then transferred to Eintracht Frankfurt where he was at first booed by a section of fans and subjected to monkey-noises, amongst other racist insults, him being the first black player the team had ever signed. In the Hesse metropolis, Yeboah quickly established himself as a deadly striker, silencing all critics. Equally adept with feet and head, his joyfully executed direct style of play mesmerised the fans to the point that soon, the Zeugen Yeboahs (Yeboahs Witnesses) was formed and became an overnight cult success. Yeboah was the Superstar-next-door for the people of Frankfurt and Rhein-Main. His popularity helped pave a great deal of the way towards true racial-integration in the region, such was his profound influence on the fans and citizens, who had not all been sympathetic towards Africans until then. He was the top Bundesliga scorer twice with Frankfurt, in 1993 and 1994.^[1] By then, the Bundesliga and the German people were ready to welcome other African players like Jay-Jay Okocha, Samuel Kuffour and Souleyman Sané to play in the Bundesliga. In 1995, he and fellow colleagues Maurizio Gaudino and Okocha clashed with manager Jupp Heynckes, which led to their departure from the club.

Yeboah joined English club Leeds United from Eintracht Frankfurt for a £3.4 million price tag at the start of 1995. As well as his wonder-goals of the season against Liverpool and Wimbledon, a hat-trick versus AS Monaco in the UEFA Cup was one of the high points of his Leeds career. Yeboah often cited his good form and prowess while at Leeds was down to his love for Yorkshire Pudding. A video was released named ‘Yeboah – Shoot to Kill’ while he was at Leeds.

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. When George Graham took over as manager, there was a clash of personalities and Yeboah was sold. He returned to Germany, and was still playing and scoring for several years after he left Leeds.

Yeboah scored a total of 33 goals for Leeds United in 62 appearances, and is still revered as a cult hero for the Yorkshire club. . He is famous in the United Kingdom for scoring many remarkable goals in a short period for Leeds United. His volley against Liverpool and his strike versus Wimbledon in the 1995–96 season were amongst his notable goals and he was a regular feature in Goal of the Month in the Premiership at a time when the Georgian midfielder Georgi Kinkladze of Manchester City F.C. and Matt Le Tissier of Southampton F.C. also gained a reputation for scoring world class goals in the competition. The goal against Wimbledon was also awarded Goal of the Season in 1995–96. While at Leeds, the speed of one of his shots was unofficially measured at 96 mph, making his shots faster than Leeds legend Peter Lorimer. In his first season (1995–96) at Elland Road he was voted as the club's first-ever non-British Player of the Year.^[2]

Yeboah left German club Hamburger SV in 2001 after 28 goals,^[3] in order to join Al Ittihad Doha in Qatar, where he played under Austrian coach Josef Hickersberger.^[4]

In 2005, Yeboah appeared at the Lucas Radebe testimonial with Leeds United and African players past and present. In December 2006, he featured in a charity match christened as "Anthony Baffoe XI vs Anthony Yeboah XI". According to the organisers, this event will be held annually to raise funds to support orphanages in the country. The match ended 3-2 to Yeboah's team. Yeboah played a cameo role in the first ten minutes. The match also featured players such as Stephen Appiah, Marcel Desailly and Richard Kingson.

Chairman of Berekum Chelsea

On 3 November 2008, he was appointed as the new chairman of the newly promoted Ghana Telecom Premier League club Berekum Chelsea.^[5]

Business career

Yeboah runs an international sports agency called Anthony Yeboah Sportpromotion.^[6] He also owns a chain of hotels in Ghana called Yegoala.^[7]

Career statistics

^[8]

International goals

Scores and results list Ghana's goal tally first.

Honours

• Topscorer of the Ghanaian Premier League: 2 times:
  • 1986
  • 1987
• Topscorer of the German Bundesliga: 2 times:
  • 1993 (joint topscorer with Ulf Kirsten with 20 goals)
  • 1994 (joint topscorer with Stefan Kuntz with 18 goals)

Trivia

• Yeboah's lasting popularity in Frankfurt is demonstrated by the fact that supporters still wear shirts with the slogan Zeugen Yeboahs, meaning Yeboah's Witnesses in English, a reference to Jehovah's Witnesses.
• Commenting that Yeboah's birthday can not be determined exactly, Ghana's then-manager Otto Pfister said: There's only one way to find out: saw his leg off and count the rings.^[9]
• When Yeboah was at Leeds United, some fans added "OAH" to the Yorkshire Electricity Board signs found around the city, "YEB" being the acronym for the Yorkshire Electricity Board.
• To date, amateur footballers across the country still call it a ‘Yeboah’ or 'Tony' and celebrate waving their index finger when they hit the underside of the crossbar, in reference to his strikes against Liverpool and Wimbledon which hit the underside of the crossbar prior to crossing the line.
• In the early 1990s the local Frankfurt comedy duo Badesalz released a sketch based on Yeboah's transfer from Saarbrücken to Frankfurt and racist chants occasionally heard around that time. In the sketch, two supporters mock the visitors' player Anthony Sabini with monkey sounds until a third supporter tells them that Sabini would be transferred to their club for the next season. From that moment they hail and even cheer him when he scores against their team.
• To this day Yeboah is the only player ever to win successive BBC Match of the Day Goal of the Month competitions, doing so in September and October 1995.^[10]
• In an interview with the German football magazine "Kicker" he answered the conclusion of the interviewer, he would live like an archetype of a German citizen whether he should lit a campfire in his living room.

Personal life

Yeboah is the of uncle of KRC Genk player Samuel Yeboah and the cousin of former FSV Mainz 05 player Mike Osei (also his partner on Anthony Yeboah Sportpromotion).^[6] He is married with 4 children.^[7]

References

External links

• Ghana-pedia webpage - Anthony (Tony) Yeboah