Anthony Yeboah (born 6 June 1966) is a Ghanaian former professional footballer who played as a striker.
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 in the 1990s.
Yeboah is most noted for his time at European clubs 1. FC Saarbrücken, Eintracht Frankfurt, Leeds United and Hamburger SV. He also played for Asante Kotoko, Cornerstones Kumasi, Okwawu United and Al-Ittihad Doha. He was capped 59 times by Ghana, scoring 29 goals. He now runs an international Sports agent and a chain of hotels in Ghana. He won the Bundesliga golden boot on two occasions, 1992–93 and 1993–94, playing for Eintracht Frankfurt.
In December 1994 Eintracht's new manager Jupp Heynckes ordered extra training for Yeboah, Jay Jay Okocha and Maurizio Gaudino, who subsequently made themselves unavailable for the next fixture and were then suspended indefinitely by the club. Heynckes had also removed the captaincy from Yeboah, whom he considered to be three kilos overweight. Yeboah later attributed a racist motive to Heynckes and was also unhappy at Eintracht blocking his prospective transfer to Bayern Munich.
He also scored three hat-tricks for Leeds; the first against Ipswich Town in the Premier League at Elland Road on 5 April 1995, which made him only the third foreign player to score a league hat-trick for Leeds (Cantona v Tottenham in August 1992 was the first, and Phil Masinga three months earlier in an FA Cup tie). Yeboah's second hat-trick came against Monaco in the 1995–96 UEFA Cup on 12 September 1995, and the third 11 days later in the Premier League match against Wimbledon at Selhurst Park which included the aforementioned Goal of the Season. 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. He also developed a well-documented fondness for Yorkshire pudding. A knee injury curtailed his appearances at the end of 1995–96 and he underwent surgery in August 1996. When George Graham took over as Leeds manager in September 1996 he used Yeboah sparingly, considering him to be unfit. This brought about a rift between player and coach, which culminated in Yeboah throwing his shirt in the direction of the bench after being substituted in a 1–0 defeat by Tottenham Hotspur in March 1997.
Yeboah failed to report back for pre-season training ahead of 1997–98, hoping to force a transfer. He was sold to Hamburger SV in September 1997 for a fee of around £1 million, having played just six times in the 1996–97 season under Graham.
Yeboah featured for Ghana in their 1992 African Cup of Nations final defeat, but the occasion was marred by a dispute over the team captaincy. With Abedi Pele suspended, regular vice-captain Yeboah was controversially overlooked for the captaincy in favour of Anthony Baffoe.
Yeboah along with his cousin former Mainz player Michael Osei runs an international Sports agent called Anthony Yeboah Sportpromotion and owns a chain of hotels in Ghana (Accra, Kumasi) called Yegoala. He is married and has two children.
His nephews, Kelvin Yeboah and Obed Yeboah, are also professional footballers.
| + Appearances and goals by club, season and competition | |||
| 1. FC Saarbrücken | 1988–89 | 2. Bundesliga | 11 |
| 1989–90 | 2. Bundesliga | 20 | |
| Eintracht Frankfurt | 1990–91 | Bundesliga | 11 |
| 1991–92 | Bundesliga | 17 | |
| 1992–93 | Bundesliga | 30 | |
| 1993–94 | Bundesliga | 20 | |
| 1994–95 | Bundesliga | 11 | |
| Leeds United | 1994–95 | Premier League | 13 |
| 1995–96 | Premier League | 19 | |
| 1996–97 | Premier League | 0 | |
| Hamburger SV | 1997–98 | Bundesliga | 3 |
| 1998–99 | Bundesliga | 16 | |
| 1999–2000 | Bundesliga | 12 | |
| 2000–01 | Bundesliga | 4 | |
| 2001–02 | Bundesliga | 0 | |
| + List of international goals scored by Tony Yeboah | |
| 1992 African Cup of Nations | |
| 1992 African Cup of Nations | |
| 3 | 1994 African Cup of Nations Qualifier |
| 4 | 2–0 |
| 1994 African Cup of Nations Qualifier | |
| 1996 African Cup of Nations Qualifier | |
| 1996 African Cup of Nations | |
| 1996 African Cup of Nations |
Asante Kotoko
Leeds United
Al Ittihad
Ghana
Individual
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