AFCON 2019: Mudashiru Lawal is first African to appear in 5 consecutive Nations Cup
- AFCON 2019 draws closer and ahead of the tournament, history has it that Mudashiru Lawal is the first African player to appear in five consecutive Nations Cup
- The striker was born in 1954 in Abeokuta and died in 1991 in Ibadan after battle against illness
- In the space of 25 years, Lawal played 86 games for Nigeria scoring 12 goals
The name of Mudashiru Babatunde Lawal will never be forgotten in the history of Nigerian football considering his achievement while playing the round leather game for his nation.
Born in 1954 in Abeokuta, Mudashiru Lawal started his career as a road side mechanic before his football talent was discovered in 1975.
However, Lawal followed a friend to a football field after closing from his primary job then, before he decided to join other players to play soccer.
His superb display and high goal scoring sense paved ways for him to be signed by one of the oldest Nigerian League club which is Shooting Stars of Ibadan.
And in the year 1976, Mudashiru Lawal steered Shooting Stars of Ibadan to their first continental title winning the African Cup Winners Cup.
Mudashiru Lawal later left 3SC of Ibadan when the club was disbanded in 1985 and he joined Stationery Stores of Lagos.
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He was with Stores for four years before he made a return to Shooting Stars in 1989 where he was until his demise.
Lawal died on July 6, 1991, and history will bare witness that he was then Nigeria's most capped player with 86 appearances and 12 goals for 25 years before Joseph Yobo and Enyeama broke his record.
But today, Mudashiru Lawal has a record in Africa, as he remains the first African player to appear in five consecutive AFCON tournaments (1976-1984).
Earlier, Legit.ng had reported how Ahmed Musa was named as the Nigerian Player of the Year at the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) football awards staged at the Eko Hotels & Suites on Monday, April 1.
The 26-year-old striker beat Arsenal forward Alex Iwobi and Shanghai Greenland Shenhua star Odion Ighalo to win the award.
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