A superfan of German Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt has showed off a twenty year old tattoo of Ghana and Eintracht super star Tony 'Yegoala' Yeboah after he pleaded to meet with the Frankfurt legend during a recent visit to Germany.
In Germany, Anthony Yeboah is a Frankfurt football icon. 123 of the Ghana international’s 223 top-flight appearances were with Eintracht, where he scored 68 of his 96 goals in the German top flight. In 1993, and again the following year, he was Bundesliga top scorer but for all his scoring exploits out on the pitch, Yeboah is remembered in almost equal measure for his groundbreaking achievements away from it.
During his recent visit to Germany on the invitation of a Television station as an analyst of the Brazil World Cup, several fans of the ex Black Stars striker took the opportunity to take photographs and autographs of their once celebrated team member.
One of them, a member of the famous Zeugen Yeboahs (Yeboah's Witnesses) and a whole-hearted Frankfurt supporter decided to go one step further as he showed off a twenty year old inscription of Yeboah's name and the famous No 9 tattooed on his back.
Yeboah, also a Leeds United star clearly didn't mind, grinning while posing for a picture with the die-hard.
In the early 90s, together with SG Wattenscheid’s Souleymane Sané and Anthony Baffoe of Fortuna Düsseldorf, he wrote an open letter drawing attention to the casual racism prevalent at the time both in Germany’s football stadiums and in everyday life.
Today, Yeboah’s over-dimensional likeness is to be found decorating the gable end of a five-storey Frankfurt apartment block – a symbol of the ongoing battle against racism and discrimination.
In 1990,Tony Yeboah moved from FC Saarbrücken to Eintracht Frankfurt where he was at first booed by a section of fans and subjected to monkey-noises, amongst other racist insults, him being the first black player the team had ever signed.
In the Hesse metropolis, Yeboah quickly established himself as a deadly striker, silencing all critics. Equally adept with feet and head, his joyfully executed direct style of play mesmerised the fans to the point that soon, the Zeugen Yeboahs (Yeboah's Witnesses) was formed and became an overnight cult success.
Yeboah was the Superstar-next-door for the people of Frankfurt and Rhein-Main area. His popularity helped pave a great deal of the way towards true racial-integration in the region, such was his profound influence on the fans and citizens, who had not all been sympathetic towards Africans until then.
He was the top Bundesliga scorer twice with Frankfurt, in 1993 and 1994.
See the photo below: