However, during his time playing football in Japan, he found that many people pronounced his name as "Yacobi" for ease of pronunciation, and he chose to embrace this variation.

His great talent then led him to join Teras and then Perisai which was fostered by the Directorate General of Taxes and trained by Wibisono.

Subsequently, he, along with several of his teammates, including Juanda, Supardi, and Bambang Usmanto, was promoted to the senior team by the coach at that time, Yuswardi.

[5][6] In 1988, Japanese club Matsushita Electric (currently known as Gamba Osaka) bought him, but he was unable to make a significant impact on the team due to difficulties in adapting to the climate and weather conditions.

[14] On 21 November 2020 Yacobi died of a heart attack while playing football with several former national team players and journalists at Senayan A Field, Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex.