Tijani Babangida is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a winger.
30 Facts About Tijani Babangida
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Tijani Babangida played over 30 games for his national side, including four at the 1998 World Cup in France.
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Tijani Babangida participated in two Africa Cup of Nations tournaments and won the 1996 Olympics with Nigeria.
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Tijani Babangida lost his place in the squad right before the 2002 World Cup.
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Tijani Babangida made a total of 29 league appearances for Roda that season, scoring 11 goals.
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In 1995, Tijani Babangida made his European debut, scoring a goal in the UEFA Cup first-round win over Olimpija Ljubljana, Roda's first European campaign in five years.
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Tijani Babangida appeared in 29 league games, scoring four goals in his first season with Ajax.
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Tijani Babangida played an important role in Ajax's European campaign, scoring three goals, including one against Auxerre in the group stages, and the winning goal in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League encounter with Atletico Madrid at the Vicente Calderon Stadium, that put Ajax through to the semi-finals of the competition.
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Tijani Babangida had a successful second season with the club as he helped Ajax to another Eredivisie title with a 39-point gap over PSV Eindhoven, while his 13 league goals in 26 games made him the club's third top scorer, behind Shota Arveladze and Jari Litmanen.
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Tijani Babangida's fortunes started to change towards the end of 1998.
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Tijani Babangida started two of his team's opening Champions League games.
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Tijani Babangida signed with Ittihad of Saudi Arabia in September 2002, joining Bebeto and Titi Camara, but walked out of the team in November after disagreements with Jose Oscar Bernardi.
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On 30 April 2003, three years since Tijani Babangida played his last game for the club, it was announced that both sides had come to an agreement and the player's contract was finally terminated.
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The move was put off due to the outbreak of SARS in China, and Tijani Babangida signed with the second-tier side Changchun Yatai shortly after.
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Tijani Babangida scored four more goals for Yatai the following season before retiring in 2004.
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Tijani Babangida received his first call-up to the senior Nigeria national team for a pre-World Cup friendly against Romania in 1994.
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Tijani Babangida then played in a friendly against Georgia, but did not make the final squad for 1994 World Cup.
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Tijani Babangida played an important role in his team's Olympic triumph in Atlanta in 1996, as Nigeria overcame tough resistance from Brazil and Argentina, packed with the likes of Dida, Roberto Carlos, Bebeto, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Hernan Crespo, Claudio Lopez, Ariel Ortega and Diego Simeone among others.
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Tijani Babangida took part in Nigeria's 1998 World Cup campaign, playing a total of 120 minutes as he started one game and came on as a sub in the other three.
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Tijani Babangida scored his team's only goal in the second-round defeat to Denmark.
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In January 2001, Tijani Babangida appeared in an exhibition game at the Yokohama International Stadium, playing for FIFA XI in a game against the unified team of Japan and South Korea.
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Tijani Babangida only made his African Nations Cup debut in 2000 as Nigeria withdrew from the 1996 edition in South Africa due to political reasons and missed out on 1998 African Cup of Nations through disqualification.
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Tijani Babangida appeared in all of his team's five games, starting two.
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Tijani Babangida then featured in Nigeria's run to the 2002 World Cup finals, scoring two important first-half goals against Ghana on the final day of the 2002 World Cup qualification, helping Nigeria seal the final African region World Cup berth.
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Tijani Babangida played in all of his team's games at the 2002 Nations Cup, but was dropped ahead of the World Cup, alongside several other experienced players like Sunday Oliseh and Finidi George.
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Tijani Babangida was recalled to the national team for the pre-Nations Cup training camp in Faro, Portugal in 2004, but did not make the final squad, making the 2002 Cup of Nations his last major international tournament.
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Tijani Babangida, sometimes nicknamed "TJ", was born into a large family in the city of Kaduna in 1973.
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Tijani Babangida was married to Rabah, the sister of Daniel Amokachi's wife.
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In 1997 Tijani Babangida acted in a commercial ad for ABN-AMRO in which he points out his hesitations about a contract of some sort.
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In May 2024, Tijani Babangida survived a traffic collision in Zaria that killed his one-year old son and younger brother Ibrahim.