CAF Honours Late Super Eagles Legend Peter Rufai Ahead of AFCON 2025
- CAF has honoured former Super Eagles goalkeeper Peter Rufai ahead of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations
- The legendary goalkeeper sadly passed away at 61 on July 3, 2025, the same day as Liverpool forward Diogo Jota
- Rufai was part of the Super Eagles of Nigeria’s winning squad at the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations in Tunisia
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has honoured former Super Eagles goalkeeper Peter Rufai five months after his unfortunate demise.
Peter Rufai sadly passed away on July 3, 2025, at a hospital in Lagos after suffering a cardiac arrest following a prolonged battle with undisclosed illness.
Source: Getty Images
The Nigerian football community, including his ex-international colleagues, came together to mourn their beloved goalkeeper after the news broke of his departure.
There was widespread outrage against the Nigeria Football Federation for neglecting the former goalkeeper during his ailing days before his death.
However, the federation provided financial support to his family and also to Christian Chukwu, who had passed on in April, for their final rites.
Rufai passed away on the same day as former Liverpool forward Diogo Jota, who tragically passed away in a car accident alongside his brother Andre Silva.
CAF remembers Peter Rufai
CAF has honoured the memories of the late Peter Rufai ahead of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, five months after his unfortunate death.
The African football governing body published a video on its X page with a touching tribute, which attracted comments from fans in honour of Dodo Katana.
“Africa remembers its greats. ❤ Peter Rufai. Forever an icon. 🕊🇳🇬,” the caption reads.
CAF President Patrice Motsepe paid a glowing tribute to one of Africa's best goalkeepers during his time, when he passed away in July.
“Peter Rufai is part of a special generation of African Football players who made the people of Nigeria and the entire African Continent very proud,” Motsepe told CAF Online.
“He was an enormously talented footballer and was respected in Africa and globally. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, the Nigeria Football Federation (“NFF”) and its President Ibrahim Gusau, his former teammates and the people of Nigeria. ‘Dodo Mayana’ will forever live in our hearts and minds. May his Soul Rest in Peace.”
Source: Getty Images
As noted by the NFF, Rufai played for Nigeria at three Africa Cup of Nations, reaching the final in all three. He won silver in 1984 and 1988 and the gold medal in 1994.
Rufai was at AFCON 2023, where he spoke passionately about Stanley Nwabali after the goalkeeper’s heroics against South Africa in the semi-final.
Nwabali’s heroics remind Rufai of his time, during which he took part in penalty shootouts in the semi-final of all three AFCONs he participated in.
Peter Rufai's cause of death
Legit.ng previously reported Peter Rufai's cause of death as a long battle with a silent heart-related problem, which first began over 10 years before his death.
Rufai was hospitalised in 2012 after collapsing at his Lagos office, and the cause of his ailment was ruled as fatigue, but it resurfaced years later as a heart problem.
Source: Legit.ng
