Joey Yobo left Nigeria for Belgium to join Standard Liege in 1998 making his debut in 2000, and went on to appear 46 times for the Belgian Club.
In 2001, he was bought by French club, Marseille. Soon after making his debut, Yobo was loaned to Tenerife CD in Spain. After around 9 months Yobo retuned to Marseille, before joining Everton, again on loan, in July 2002.
A £1M fee was required to register the player, and he became the first signing of David Moyes. An option to make the move permanent was taken up and completed in 2003 after a dispute between Yobo and Marseille was settled, with Everton agreeing a fixed additional fee of £4M.
Yobo became one of the most consistent players in the Everton squad, and was one of only seven players in the entire league to play every minute of every game throughout 2006-07.
The delay, in 2006, in signing a new contract with Everton lead to rumours of a move to Arsenal but on 22 July Yobo committed himself to Goodison Park until 2010. Yobo is the record appearance holder for an overseas player at Everton. For the UEFA Cup match against AE Larissa of Greece on October 25 2007, Yobo was named as captain in the absence of Phil Neville and thus became the first African to captain the club.On the 16 May 2009 Yobo scored his first goal of the season against West Ham United to seal a 3-1 win .
The Nigerial Internalional defender played in the Super Eagles' three matches in Japan and South Korea, for the 2002 World Cup, and even provided the assist for his side's only goal of the tournament.
In 2007 Joseph Yobo set up the Joseph Yobo Charity Foundation, to help under-privileged children in Nigeria. As of 18 July 2007 he has handed out over 300 scholarship awards ranging from primary to university level. Yobo has started a football academy in the Ogoni region of Nigeria. He also runs football camps in Lagos., in conjunction with Everton Lagos FC.
Having found it difficult to get in the first team at the beginning of the season, Joe moved onto to Fernabache on a season long loan with an option to make the move permanent at the end of the season. Joe had played 240 games for Everton scoring 10 goals.
