.jpg) Babayaro in 2018 | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Celestine Hycieth Babayaro[1] | |||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1978-08-29)29 August 1978 (age 46)[1] | |||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Kaduna, Nigeria | |||||||||||||
| Height | 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) | |||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Left-back,midfielder | |||||||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||||||
| Plateau United | ||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||
| 1994–1997 | Anderlecht | 76 | (8) | |||||||||||
| 1997–2005 | Chelsea | 132 | (5) | |||||||||||
| 2005–2008 | Newcastle United | 47 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 2008 | LA Galaxy | 0 | (0) | |||||||||||
| Total | 255 | (13) | ||||||||||||
| International career | ||||||||||||||
| 1996–2000 | Nigeria Olympic | 7 | (2) | |||||||||||
| 1995–2004 | Nigeria | 27 | (0) | |||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | ||||||||||||||
Celestine Hycieth Babayaro (born 29 August 1978) is a Nigerian former professionalfootballer who played as aleft-back or amidfielder.
Babayaro spent the majority of his career playing in thePremier League, mainly forChelsea from 1997 to 2005, and then later forNewcastle United, from 2005 to 2008. He had a brief stint atMLS clubLA Galaxy, but never officially played for the club. He retired as a free agent in 2010.
Babayaro represented theNigeria national football team from 1995 to 2004 and was part of twoOlympic squads, twoWorld Cup squads and threeAfrican Cup of Nations squads.
Born inKaduna,[1] Babayaro began his playing career at Nigerian sidePlateau United, before moving to Belgian clubAnderlecht in 1994, and eventually would make a name for himself, quickly gaining first-choice status although still ateenager. Babayaro set records as the youngest player to make an appearance and to receive a red card in theUEFA Champions League. He was sent off in a match againstSteaua București in a 1–1 draw, aged 16 years and 86 days.
Babayaro was signed byChelsea after being spotted by scout Lewis Durkin in April 1997. He moved for a transfer fee of £2.25 million,[2] a club record paid for a teenager at the time.[citation needed] He made his debut in theUEFA Cup Winners' Cup againstSlovan Bratislava,[3] but an injury sustained in the 6–1 win over rivalsTottenham Hotspur in December 1997[4] ruled him out for the rest of the season. This meant he missed their victories in the1998 Football League Cup final and the1998 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final. However, with Chelsea he went on to win the1998 UEFA Super Cup, theFA Cup[5] andCharity Shield in 2000,[6] and reached the2002 FA Cup final.[7] He was also instrumental in Chelsea's run in the1999–2000 UEFA Champions League. Babayaro was sent off in extra time againstBarcelona, as they bowed out of the competition at the quarter final stage.[8] He faced competition fromGraeme Le Saux during his seven-year spell, but managed to play over 200 games for the club. His acrobatic celebrations withbackflips were noted by the fans of the club.
The steady form ofWayne Bridge saw Babayaro start only fourFAPremier League matches for Chelsea in2004–05 under new managerJosé Mourinho. Chelsea ended the season as Premier League champions.
In January 2005, he leftChelsea to joinNewcastle United on an undisclosed fee,[9] where he established himself as first-choice left-back. He scored his first and what turned out to be his only Newcastle goal in a 3–1 win overCoventry City in theFA Cup.[10]
In September 2006, Babayaro was given a three-match ban byThe Football Association for slappingLiverpool strikerDirk Kuyt in the face,[11] while Liverpool took a corner. The slap was not seen by the refereeMark Halsey, but later footage 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 managerGlenn Roeder revealed that just 12 hours before kick-off, Babayaro had called him saying his younger brother David had died fromtuberculosis. Despite this, Babayaro insisted he would still play and put in a solid performance which earned him praise from Roeder and the fans. This fine form continued into United's 3–1 away victory againstZulte Waregem, in theUEFA Cup.[12]
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.[13]
In January 2009, former Newcastle chairmanFreddy Shepherd described Babayaro as a "disgrace" who "didn't pull his weight" during a televised BBC interview.[14]
On 21 January 2008, 30-year-old Babayaro came to an agreement with theLA Galaxy to join them on a three-year contract, effective immediately.[15]
With this move, the Nigerian re-joined Galaxy coachRuud Gullit who previously brought him toChelsea in 1997 and spent a season coaching him there. This time again, it was the recently hired Gullit who wanted Babayaro at his new club. However, it did not take long for the move to turn sour. Thinking that he had arrived at sort of an American superclub that only a year earlier gaveDavid 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.[16] His lack of commitment in training and preseason games[citation needed] reflected those feelings, and he soon got on Gullit's and club president and general managerAlexi Lalas's bad side.
On 3 March, Babayaro was waived by the Galaxy after playing only 45 minutes in a preseason friendly againstFC 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."[17]
During pre-season for the 2008–09 English league season, Babayaro trained withPremier League clubPortsmouth at the invitation of managerHarry Redknapp with a view to signing for theFA Cup holders.[18] On 14 August 2008, Redknapp revealed that he would not offer Babayaro a contract atFratton Park.[19]
On 8 July 2010, Babayaro officially announced his retirement from football.[20]
After being part of the victorious Nigerian team at the Under-17 World Championships in 1993, Babayaro made hisinternational senior debut in theAfro-Asian Cup of Nations in 1995, againstUzbekistan. The following year, he was part of the Nigeria Olympicgold medal winning team at the1996 Summer Olympics inAtlanta, making the tournament's all-star team. He scored in the gold medal game itself against Argentina. After getting a knee injury in December 1997 in the Premier League, Babayaro recovered just in time to make theFrance 98 squad. He was also Nigeria's captain at the2000 Summer Olympics inSydney, and took part in theKorea/Japan 2002 FIFA World Cup.
Babayaro was part of Nigeria's squad for the2004 African Nations Cup inTunisia, but was controversially[according to whom?] sent home, alongsideYakubu andVictor Agali for indiscipline. Although never officially announcing his retirement from international football, his final appearance from the national team was againstMorocco in a group stage match.
Celestine Babayaro's brother,Emmanuel, agoalkeeper, was also part of Nigeria's 1996 Olympics gold medal-winning team.[21]
Babayaro was acquitted of indecent assault in 1999.[22] He later sued theDaily Star for a headline suggesting he had been charged with rape and won an apology and damages.[23] He was declared bankrupt in 2011.[24]
| Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | League cup[b] | Continental | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Anderlecht | 1994–95 | First Division | 22 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | 23 | 0 | |||||
| 1995–96 | 29 | 5 | — | 2 | 0 | 31 | 5 | |||||||
| 1996–97 | 25 | 3 | — | 8 | 0 | — | 33 | 3 | ||||||
| Total | 76 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 87 | 8 | ||||||
| Chelsea | 1997–98 | Premier League | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | 13 | 0 | |
| 1998–99 | 28 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 1[c] | 0 | 44 | 4 | ||
| 1999–2000 | 25 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 2 | — | 41 | 2 | |||
| 2000–01 | 24 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1[c] | 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 | |||
| Total | 132 | 5 | 17 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 30 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 197 | 8 | ||
| Newcastle United | 2004–05 | Premier League | 7 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 13 | 1 | |
| 2005–06 | 28 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | 35 | 0 | |||
| 2006–07 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | — | 20 | 0 | |||
| 2007–08 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | |||
| Total | 47 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 68 | 1 | ||
| LA Galaxy | 2008 | Major League Soccer | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Career total | 255 | 13 | 24 | 1 | 19 | 0 | 52 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 352 | 17 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nigeria | 1995 | 1 | 0 |
| 1996 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1997 | 4 | 0 | |
| 1998 | 5 | 0 | |
| 1999 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2000 | 7 | 0 | |
| 2001 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2002 | 4 | 0 | |
| 2003 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2004 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 27 | 0 | |
Anderlecht
Chelsea
Nigeria U17
Nigeria U23
Nigeria
Individual
Nigeria squads | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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