Legendary goalkeeper of the Nigeria national team, Peter Rufai, is dead at the age of 61. Popular known as Dodo Mayana, Rufai passed away on Thursday after a battling with illness for some time now.
Rufai was part of the Super Eagles squad to win the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations title and achieve a first-ever World Cup appearance for the country at the 1994 edition of the competition.
He was also in the Super Eagles squad that reached the last 16 at the France ’98 FIFA World Cup in which the team achieved a famous 3-2 comeback win over Spain in the group stage.
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Nigeria would go on to reach the round of 16 before losing in agonising fashion to Italy. The team went on to reach fifth place on the FIFA world rankings – a position no other African team has been able to surpass since.
Rufai made 65 appearances for Nigeria and scored a goal in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier which the Super Eagles won 6-0 against Ethiopia in July 1993. He also competed professionally in Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain, in a senior career that lasted 20 years.
The former Stationery Stores, Farense and Deportivo La Coruna keeper has died on the same day Liverpool and Portugal forward Diogo Jota lost his life in a car accident in Spain alongside his brother, Andre Silva.