Chelsea
Babayaro began his playing career at Nigerian side Plateau United, before moving to Belgium giants R.S.C. Anderlecht in 1994, and eventually would make a name for himself, quickly gaining first-choice status although still a teenager.

Babayaro was purchased by Chelsea F.C. in April 1997 for £2.25m million - a club record paid for a teenager at the time.[citation needed] During his time there, the team won the FA Cup and Charity Shield in 2000, and reached the FA Cup finals in 2002. He faced competition from Graeme Le Saux during his seven-year spell, but managed to play over 200 games for the London side. His acrobatic celebrations with backflips were a highlight and loved by the Stamford Bridge faithful. The signing of Wayne Bridge saw Babayaro start only four English Premier League games for Chelsea in 2004-05 - their Premiership winning year.


[edit] Newcastle
In January 2005, he left Chelsea to join Newcastle United where he established himself as first choice left back.

In September 2006, Babayaro was given a three-match ban by the Football Association for slapping Liverpool striker Dirk Kuyt in the face while Liverpool took a corner. The slap wasn`t seen by the referee but later videos showed Babayaro punch the Dutchman in the face. Babayaro accepted the allegations and apologised to Kuyt.

On 10 February 2007, after a 2-1 win over Liverpool, then-Newcastle manager Glenn Roeder revealed that just 12 hours before kick-off, Babayaro had called him saying his younger brother David had died from tuberculosis. Despite this, Babayaro insisted he would still play and put in a solid performance which earned him praise from Newcastle manager and fans. This fine form continued into United`s 3-1 away victory against Zulte Waregem, in the UEFA Cup.[1]

Due to his many injury problems it was mutually decided, on 10 December 2007, that Babayaro should be released from his contract with immediate effect and a compensation figure was agreed.[2]

In January 2009 Newcastle`s ex-chairman Freddy Shepherd described Babayaro as a "disgrace" who "didn`t pull his weight" during a televised BBC interview. [3]


[edit] Recent Activity
On 21 January 2008, Babayaro came to an agreement with the Los Angeles Galaxy to join them on a three-year contract, effective immediately.[4]With this move, he re-joined Galaxy coach Ruud Gullit, whom he played for during his time at Chelsea. On March 3, he was surprisingly waived by the Galaxy after playing only 45 minutes in a pre-season friendly against FC Seoul receiving a yellow card and conceding a penalty in the process. The reason for this unexpected release is so far unknown. "After a period of evaluation, it was decided that it would be in the best interest of the club and the player to part ways,” Alexi Lalas, the team’s president and general manager, said in a statement. “It is unfortunate that it did not work out, but Ruud and our technical staff are hard at work putting together this team and difficult decisions have to be made."[5] During pre-season 2008, Babayaro trained with Portsmouth F.C. at the invitation of manager Harry Redknapp and with a view to the player signing for the FA Cup holders[6] On 14 August 2008 Redknapp revealed that he would not offer Babayaro a contract at Portsmouth [7].


[edit] International career
After being part of the victorious Nigerian team at the Under-17 World Championships in Japan (1993), Babaya