J. Yakubu

Joel Yakubu began at Mahanaim FC in Abuja and left Nigeria in September 2024 for the Czech Republic. There he signed a three-year contract with Slovan Liberec for an undisclosed fee. His first playing time in Europe came with the club's reserve team rather than the senior squad.

The reserves play in the Czech third tier, and Yakubu made 16 appearances there and scored one goal. Liberec have a long record at home: they have won the Czech First League three times, in 2001–02, 2005–06 and 2011–12, and the Czech Cup in 2007–08.

In February 2026 he changed country again, joining BFC Daugavpils in Latvia on loan until the end of the 2026 season. At Daugavpils he plays on the right wing in the Latvian Virslīga, in a league very different from the Czech third tier he had known.

His new club is also one with a short history of European football. Daugavpils made their first European appearance in the 2025–26 UEFA Conference League qualifying round. Their domestic honours are two First League titles, in 2013 and 2018.

Yakubu is still at the start of his senior career. It has so far taken him from Abuja to the Czech reserves and then to Latvia, where the loan gives him a place in a league side's first-team squad.