Rabiu Ibrahim

Sporting CP

Rabiu was born in Kano. In summer 2007, he signed for Sporting CP for €450,000, in a joint ownership agreement with his previous club Gateway FC. Shortly afterwards, it was reported that Premier League sides Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United, and Arsenal were interested in signing him, but nothing came of it. In late 2007, Rabiu was included by World Soccer in its 50 Most Exciting Teen Footballers list and, in March of the following year, he was featured by InsideFutbol.com in an article on young African footballers including Emmanuel Adebayor, Mario Balotelli and Mikel John Obi. In January 2009, he appeared in Goal.com's list of 10 African Players to Watch, and The Times' Football's Top 50 Rising Stars. Rabiu participated in the 2008 Bellinzona Under-19 International Tournament with Sporting, with the Portuguese eventually winning the trophy. In the competition, in which he was eventually voted as the best player, he was deployed as a classic number 10 in a 4–2–3–1 system; one year later, he again led the Lisbon team to the final stage of the same tournament. In October 2009, Rabiu twice rejected an offer of a professional contract, and was at that time sent on loan to Real S.C. in the third division. In January 2010 he drew interest from Scottish Premier League's Celtic, but the deal never materialised due to undisclosed reasons believed to involve work permit issues. In 2010, Rabiu left Sporting as a free agent. Subsequently, Dutch side VVV-Venlo…

Rabiu was a member of the Nigerian under-17 team in the 2007 FIFA World Cup in South Korea, scoring in the first match against France as the nation went on to win the competition. Before the tournament, he had been dubbed "the new Jay-Jay Okocha", and helped the side win that year's Africa U-17 Cup of Nations held in Togo, scoring twice against Eritrea in the group stage (8–0). Aged 16, Rabiu was included in the senior squad by German coach Berti Vogts for the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, with his under-17 teammate Haruna Lukman. However, a groin injury prevented him from participating in the tournament. In 2009, Rabiu helped Nigeria to win bronze in the African Youth Championship in Rwanda, netting against Ivory Coast and South Africa, with the national team securing a place in that year's FIFA U-20 World Cup where he appeared in three matches, scoring against Germany in the 2–3 round-of-16 loss; in addition to his six goals in the youth levels, he also provided many assists. In the following years, Rabiu continued to be closely watched by the Nigerian senior coaches, with Samson Siasia claiming in the media in April 2010 that he was one of only two players who could solve the country's attacking midfield problems. Siasia was appointed in November 2010 and the player was called up to his first camp ahead of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, but the manager in charge was now Stephen Keshi. Rabiu earned his first full cap on 13 June 2015, playing for 32 minutes in a 2–0 home win…

As of 15 October 2017

Rabiu is a practising Muslim.