Clubs: FC Metz, AS Monaco FC, Arsenal FC, Manchester City FC, Real Madrid CF (loan)

UEFA honours
UEFA Champions League: runner-up 2004

• Born in Togo, Adebayor was spotted playing for Sporting Club de Lomé by scouts from Metz, who brought him to France in 1999; made his Ligue 1 debut against FC Sochaux-Montbéliard (0-1) on 17 November 2001.

• Following Metz's relegation he played a season in Ligue 2, where 13 goals in 34 matches prompted a summer 2003 move to Monaco; featured nine times as the Principality team reached the UEFA Champions League final in Gelsenkirchen, for which he was an unused substitute.

• Moved to Arsenal in January 2006 and scored on debut against Birmingham City FC (2-0), but was cup-tied for the Gunners' run to the UEFA Champions League final; came into his own in 2007/08, managing 24 Premier League goals and strikes against AC Milan and Liverpool FC in the UEFA Champions League knockout rounds.

• A UEFA Champions League semi-finalist in his last season with Arsenal, he scored on his City debut (versus Blackburn Rovers FC, 2-0) following a €29m transfer in July 2009.

• Became the first player to register a European hat-trick for City when he achieved the feat against KKS Lech Poznań (3-1) in the UEFA Europa League group stage on 21 October 2010 but moved on loan to Madrid − for whom he scored on his second outing, versus Sevilla FC − in January 2011 after only two Premier League starts in five months.

• A participant at the 2002 and 2006 Africa Cup of Nations, the 2008 African Footballer of the Year retired from international football after the team coach in which he was travelling to the 2010 tournament was ambushed in Angola.