Dwight Yorke
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50%Born
1971 (52 years old)
Birth Place
Canaan, Trinidad and TobagoPosition
Manager
Status
Free Agent
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178 cm
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SoccerTeam
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2nd Team
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Dwight Eversley Yorke CM (born 3 November 1971) is a Trinidadian and Tobagonian professional football coach and former player who was most recently in charge of Australian A-League club Macarthur FC.
Throughout his club career, he played for Aston Villa, Manchester United, Blackburn Rovers, Birmingham City, Sydney FC and Sunderland, mainly as a forward, between 1988 and 2009. He was the assistant manager of the Trinidad and Tobago national team until the completion of the qualifying matches for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Yorke scored 123 goals in the Premier League, a record for a non-European which was not broken until Sergio Agüero in 2017.
At international level, Yorke represented Trinidad and Tobago on 74 occasions between 1989 and 2009, scoring 19 goals. He helped his nation reach the semi-finals of the 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup, and also helped Trinidad and Tobago to qualify for the FIFA World Cup for the first time in its history, later representing his national side in the final tournament in 2006.
Yorke was capped 72 times for the Trinidad and Tobago national team, scoring 19 goals. Along with his friend Russell Latapy, Yorke was a member of the 1989 'Strike Squad', the national team which narrowly failed to qualify for the 1990 FIFA World Cup. He retired from international football in 2001 after a disagreement with coach René Simões, who cut Yorke and Russell Latapy from the squad prior to a decisive game of the 2002 World Cup qualification, as both missed practice following a night partying. However he returned to the team for the 2006 World Cup qualification campaign, in which the team qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time in their history after a 2–1 aggregate qualifying victory over Bahrain.
Yorke was captain for all of Trinidad and Tobago's games at the 2006 World Cup and was man of the match in the 0–0 draw against Sweden, pipping his close friend Shaka Hislop to the honour despite the then West Ham goalkeeper making several world-class saves. He was one of six players in the Trinidad squad (the others being Brent Sancho, Dennis Lawrence, Chris Birchall, Carlos Edwards and Stern John) to have played every minute of the campaign. Yorke was rated the best defensive midfielder in the opening stages of the World Cup.
Yorke announced his retirement from international football in March 2007, choosing to focus on his club career at Sunderland. He captained the side in Germany, and up until his retirement. However, he made a guest return appearance for a friendly against England in June 2008 after being invited by FIFA vice-president Jack Warner. On 10 July 2008, the TTFF announced Yorke's return to the national team for the 2010 World Cup qualification campaign.
On 15 October 2008, he scored his first international goal after returning from retirement against the United States in a 2010 World Cup qualification match. The game ended 2–1 for Trinidad and Tobago. His goal was a crucial tie-breaker scored in the 79th minute, which put Trinidad and Tobago in a great situation to advance to the next qualifying stage, needing only a tie against Cuba in their final game. On 11 February 2009, Yorke scored a 26th-minute penalty for his country, but was sent off in the dying seconds of Trinidad and Tobago's opening match of 2010 World Cup qualification against El Salvador (2–2) after exchanging heated remarks with Mexican referee Marco Antonio Rodríguez (the Trini star had voiced his disapproval of the disruptions caused by the home crowd) and was consequently banned for four games due to his use of abusive language. The suspension was later reduced to two matches.
After being released from Sunderland and being unable to find a club before the end of the current transfer window, Yorke retired from football altogether in September 2009, and took up the post of assistant manager with the Trinidad and Tobago national team.
Dwight Yorke grew up as a Tottenham Hotspur fan and his first jersey was a white Tottenham Hotspur shirt.
Yorke was once in a brief relationship with former model turned writer Katie Price; they have a son, Harvey, who was born in May 2002. He is autistic, partially blind and has the genetic disorder Prader–Willi syndrome. In a 2009 interview, Yorke conceded being unfaithful to Price during their relationship, and subsequently playing no role in the upbringing of their son.
The Dwight Yorke Stadium in Bacolet, Tobago, constructed for the 2001 FIFA U-17 World Championship, was named in Yorke's honour. Yorke is a cricket fan. One of Yorke's closest friends is Brian Lara. During the 1999 Cricket World Cup, Yorke made regular appearances bringing on drinks for the West Indies cricket team. Yorke's older brother, Clint Yorke, is a former first-class cricketer who has represented the Trinidad and Tobago national cricket team as an opening batsman.
Yorke featured extensively in an episode of Australia's The Biggest Loser, which aired on 28 February 2006. The episode involved Yorke coaching the "red team" of contestants while they competed against the "blue team" in a game of football. Mark Rudan, Yorke's Sydney FC teammate, was the manager of the "blue team".
As a member of the squad that competed at the 2006 World Cup, Yorke was awarded the Chaconia Medal (Gold Class), the second highest state decoration of Trinidad and Tobago. He was also made a Sports Ambassador for the country.
Yorke released his autobiography, Born to Score, in 2009.
In December 2018, Yorke avoided bankruptcy by paying a £1.5 million debt to HM Revenue and Customs.
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