| Personal information | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Celestine Hycieth Babayaro | |||||||||||
| Date of birth | 29 August 1978 | |||||||||||
| Place of birth | Kaduna, Nigeria | |||||||||||
| Height | 1.76 m (5 ft 9 1⁄2 in) | |||||||||||
| Playing position | Left Back/Left Midfielder | |||||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||||
| 1994 | Plateau United | |||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† | |||||||||
| 1994–1997 | Anderlecht | 75 | (8) | |||||||||
| 1997–2005 | Chelsea | 132 | (5) | |||||||||
| 2005–2008 | Newcastle United | 47 | (1) | |||||||||
| 2008 | Los Angeles Galaxy | 0 | (0) | |||||||||
| National team‡ | ||||||||||||
| 1995–2004 | Nigeria | 26 | (0) | |||||||||
|
Honours
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| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20:13, 10 June 2007 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). |
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Celestine Hycieth Babayaro[1] (born 29 August 1978 in Kaduna) is a former Nigerian footballer.
Contents |
Babayaro began his playing career at Nigerian side Plateau United, before moving to Belgium club Anderlecht in 1994, and eventually would make a name for himself, quickly gaining first-choice status although still a teenager.
Babayaro was signed by Chelsea F.C. after being spotted by scout Lewis Durkin in April 1997. He moved for £2.25m million - a club record paid for a teenager at the time. During his time at Chelsea, the team won the FA Cup and Charity Shield in 2000, and reached the FA Cup final in 2002. He faced competition from Graeme Le Saux during his seven-year spell, but managed to play over 200 games for the London side. His acrobatic celebrations with backflips were noted and loved by the fans of the club.
The steady form of Wayne Bridge saw Babayaro start only four FA Premier League matches for Chelsea in 2004-05 under new manager Jose Mourinho. Chelsea ended the season as Premier League champions.
In January 2005, he left Chelsea to join Newcastle United where he established himself as first choice left back. He scored his first and what turned out to be only Newcastle goal in a 3-1 win over Coventry City in the FA Cup.[2]
In September 2006, Babayaro was given a three-match ban by the Football Association for slapping Liverpool striker Dirk Kuyt in the face while Liverpool took a corner. The slap was not seen by the referee but later videos showed Babayaro punch the Dutchman in the face. Babayaro accepted the allegations and apologised to Kuyt.
On 10 February 2007, after a 2-1 win over Liverpool, then-Newcastle manager Glenn Roeder revealed that just 12 hours before kick-off, Babayaro had called him saying his younger brother David had died from tuberculosis. Despite this, Babayaro insisted he would still play and put in a solid performance which earned him praise from Newcastle manager and fans. This fine form continued into United's 3-1 away victory against Zulte Waregem, in the UEFA Cup.[3]
Due to his many injury problems it was mutually decided, on 10 December 2007, that Babayaro should be released from his contract with immediate effect and a compensation figure was agreed.[4]
In January 2009 Newcastle's ex-chairman Freddy Shepherd described Babayaro as a "disgrace" who "didn't pull his weight" during a televised BBC interview.[5]
On 21 January 2008, 29-year-old Babayaro came to an agreement with the Los Angeles Galaxy to join them on a three-year contract, effective immediately.[6]
With this move, the Nigerian re-joined Galaxy coach Ruud Gullit who previously brought him to Chelsea in 1997 and spent a season coaching him there. This time again, it was precisely recently-hired Gullit who wanted Babayaro at his new club. However, it did not take long for the move to turn sour as the Nigerian who had spent the majority of his career with top English outifts was more than shocked when faced with realities of life in the Major League Soccer. Thinking that he had arrived at sort of an American superclub that only a year earlier gave David Beckham what was widely reported to be the $250 million contract, Babayaro was agitated by what he considered to be shabby accommodations - from having to fly in the economy class to sharing a hotel room on the road.[7] His commitment in training and preseason games reflected those feelings and he soon got on Gullit's and club president and general manager Alexi Lalas's bad side.
On 3 March, Babayaro was waived by the Galaxy after playing only 45 minutes in a preseason friendly against FC Seoul, receiving a yellow card and conceding a penalty in the process. The reason for this unexpected release was not stated explicitly by Galaxy front office. "After a period of evaluation, it was decided that it would be in the best interest of the club and the player to part ways,” Lalas said in a statement. “It is unfortunate that it did not work out, but Ruud and our technical staff are hard at work putting together this team and difficult decisions have to be made."[8]
During pre-season for the 2008-09 English league campaign, Babayaro trained with Premier League club Portsmouth at the invitation of manager Harry Redknapp with a view to signing for the FA Cup holders.[9] On 14 August 2008 Redknapp revealed that he would not offer Babayaro a contract at Fratton Park.[10]
On 8 July 2010, Babayaro officially announced his retirement from football.[11]
On 9 February 2011, Babayaro was declared bankrupt.[12]
After being part of the victorious Nigerian team at the Under-17 World Championships in Japan (1993), Babayaro made his international senior debut in the Afro-Asian Championship in 1995, against Uzbekistan. The following year he was part of the Nigeria Olympic gold medal winning team at the Atlanta 96 football event, making the tournament's all-star team. He scored in the Gold Medal game itself against Argentina. After missing the entire 1997/98 Premier League season with a knee injury, Babayaro recovered just in time to make the France 98 squad. He was also Nigeria's captain at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, and took part in the Korea/Japan 2002 FIFA World Cup.
Babayaro was part of Nigeria's squad for the 2004 African Nations Cup in Tunisia, but was controversially sent home, alongside Yakubu Aiyegbeni and Victor Agali for indiscipline. Although never officially announcing his retirement from international football, he has not played for the national team ever since.
| Club performance | League | Cup | League Cup | Continental | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Club | League | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Belgium | League | Belgian Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | |||||||
| 1994/95 | Anderlecht | First Division | 22 | 0 | ||||||||
| 1995/96 | 28 | 5 | ||||||||||
| 1996/97 | 25 | 3 | ||||||||||
| England | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | |||||||
| 1997/98 | Chelsea | Premier League | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 13 | 0 |
| 1998/99 | 28 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 44 | 4 | ||
| 1999/00 | 25 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 2 | 41 | 2 | ||
| 2000/01 | 24 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 0 | ||
| 2001/02 | 18 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 28 | 0 | ||
| 2002/03 | 19 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 1 | ||
| 2003/04 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 14 | 1 | ||
| 2004/05 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | ||
| 2004/05 | Newcastle United | Premier League | 7 | 0 | ||||||||
| 2005/06 | 28 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 2006/07 | 12 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 2007/08 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||
| United States | League | Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup | League Cup | North America | Total | |||||||
| 2008 | Los Angeles Galaxy | Major League Soccer | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Country | Belgium | 75 | 8 | |||||||||
| England | 179 | 5 | ||||||||||
| United States | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||
| Total | 254 | 13 | ||||||||||
Statistics include 2 Charity Shield appearances in 1998 and 2000.
| Nigeria national team | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Apps | Goals |
| 1995 | ||
| 1996 | ||
| 1997 | ||
| 1998 | 5 | 0 |
| 1999 | 2 | 0 |
| 2000 | 7 | 0 |
| 2001 | 2 | 0 |
| 2002 | 4 | 0 |
| 2003 | 0 | 0 |
| 2004 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | ||
With Nigerian Football National Team
U - 17 World Cup: 1993
Olympic Gold Medal: 1996
With RSC Anderlecht
Jupiler League: 1995
Belgian Supercup: 1995
With Chelsea
UEFA Cup Winners Cup: 1998
UEFA Supercup: 1998
FA Cup: 2000
Individual
Belgian Young Footballer of the Year 1995 & 1996
Babayaro's brother, Emmanuel, a goalkeeper, was also part of Nigeria's 1996 Olympics gold medal winning team.[15]
He is the youngest player to play in the UEFA Champions League. He was acquitted of indecent assault in 1999.[16] He later sued the Daily Star for a headline suggesting he had been charged with rape and won an apology and damages [17] He was declared bankrupt on 4 January 2011, despite selling his sheep.
| Preceded by Olivier Doll |
Belgian Young Footballer of the Year 1994-1996 |
Succeeded by Emile Mpenza |
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