Emmanuel Adebayor is a professional footballer from Togo, who plays the center forward position.
The one-time African Footballer of the Year award winner has played for national and international teams, including renowned football clubs such as Real Madrid, Manchester City, Arsenal, and Crystal Palace.
Profile
- Name: Sheyi Emmanuel Adebayor
- Age: 36 years
- Nationality: Nigerian and Togolese
- Profession: Footballer
Net Worth
Emmanuel Adebayor has an estimated net worth of $45 million as of August 2020.
He acquired most of his wealth from his numerous contracts with some of England’s richest football clubs, such as his 2012 earnings from permanent contracts worth about $7,540,000, and the $8,810,000 annual salary he earned from his contract with Tottenham Hotspur.
It was reported that he earned about $268,000 per week when he was signed to Manchester City.
Apart from his financial achievements, Emmanuel also owns a luxurious fleet of cars, power bikes, and private jets. He also owns multi-million dollar mansions in Togo, Ghana, UK, and the US.
Emmanuel also partakes in philanthropic works; he has established many projects that cater to the welfare of the needy all across Africa. One such project is the SEA foundation in Togo.
Early Life
Emmanuel was born on 26th February 1984 in Lomé, Togo, to Shedrack Adebayor and Hajia Adebayor. Both his parents hail from Osun State, Nigeria.
His father passed away in 2005. He also has five siblings consisting of three brothers and two sisters, and his sister Iyabo Adebayor is his favorite amongst them.
Emmanuel found it challenging to walk until the age of four, and his mother took him places to find a cure for his condition.
However, an incident took place in their church, which his mother describes as a miracle. After four years of being unable to walk, Emmanuel finally stood up for the first time to pick a ball.
Football Career
Emmanuel began his football career at the age of 11. He attended the Centre de Développement Sportif de Lomé, a famous football training school in Togo.
While playing for Sporting Club de Lomé, he was spotted by Metz Coach Francis De Taddeo, during a youth tournament game held in Sweden, and was taken to France in 1999.
On November 17th, 2001, Emmanuel made his Ligue 1 debut against Sochaux-Montbeliard; he went further to play a season in Ligue 2, scoring 13 goals in 34 matches. Furthermore, Emmanuel was voted as the best player in Division 2 during the Season.
By summer in 2003, Emmanuel made a transfer to Monaco due to the relegation of his former club Metz. He was featured nine times in their 2004 UEFA Champions League games. Unfortunately, Monaco lost the Champions League final match to Porto, in a 3-0 game where Emmanuel was an unused substitute player.
On January 13th, 2006, Emmanuel was signed by Arsenal for a reported £3million. He made his debut on February 4th, 2006, in the Premier League with a match against Birmingham City, scoring a goal just 21 minutes into the game. On September 22, that same year, Emmanuel scored his first hat-trick for Arsenal in a 5-0 home match against Derby County.
Emmanuel got signed to Manchester United On July 18, 2009, for a five-year contract with a fee of £25million. On his first game for Manchester United, he scored a goal in the third minute of the game against Blackburn Rovers.
In 2011, Emmanuel got signed to Real Madrid on loan for the rest of that Season. He scored for Real Madrid against Sevilla, in a second leg game of the Copa del Rey Semi-final.
Later in August, He moved to Tottenham Hotspur with another loan contract and scored his first goal for the team on a match against Wolverhampton Wanderers. Emmanuel also got signed into a six-month deal with Crystal Palace on January 26, 2016.
Emmanuel currently plays for a Turkish football club called İstanbul Başakşehir. The club signed him on an 18-month deal for an estimated sum of £2.6million every year.
International Career
Emmanuel also plays for the Togolese national team, and his skills significantly contributed to their 2006 Africa Cup of Nations qualification; he scored 11 goals in the qualifiers. He topped the Togolese men national football team 81 times, with 31 goals as at 2018.
Personal life
Emmanuel is married and had a daughter named Kendra in June 2010. His nephew Alex Harley is a midfielder in Georgia Revolution FC.
On May 5th, 2015, Emmanuel made a controversial post on Facebook, highlighting his family troubles. He explained his trouble with relatives demanding a huge sum of money and his anger towards his sister for renting out a house he bought without his consent. The complications behind his brother, Peter’s death, was also an issue that bothered him at that time.
On July 5th, 2015, Emmanuel Adebayor officially denounced his Christian faith to embrace the Islamic faith. The conversion happened in Togo, and all efforts from his family to know the reason behind this significant decision proved futile.
Awards
Emmanuel won the 2008 African Footballer of the year award. The award was presented to him on February 10th, 2009, at the CAF award ceremony held in Lagos, Nigeria, making him the first Togolese ever to win the award.
He has also been honored with other awards, such as; BBC African Footballer of the Year 2007, BBC Goal for the Season from 2007 to 2008, and Premier League PFA Team of the Year from 2007 to 2008.
