Abdul Halik Hudu (born 19 March 2000), commonly known as Rooney, is a Ghanaian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Swedish club

GIF Sundsvall Gymnastik- och Idrottsföreningen Sundsvall, more commonly known as GIF Sundsvall (), Giffarna or simply Sundsvall, is a Swedish professional football club based in Sundsvall. The club is affiliated with Medelpads Fotbollförbund and plays its h ...

Club career

Inter Allies

Halik Hudu started his professional football career with Inter Allies in the

Ghana Premier League The is the top professional association football division of the football league system in Ghana. Officially formed in 1956 to replace a previous league incarnation, the Gold Coast Club Competition (which began in 1933 and ended in 1953–54), t ...

, getting promoted from their feeder club Accra Youth FC. During his debut season in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

, Halik Hudu played 19 games and soon established himself as a starter. At the end of the season, he was crowned "Most Promising Player of the Year" in the Ghanaian Premier League, and also got voted as the "Fans' Player of the Season" at Inter Allies. In early 2017, Halik Hudu went on a two month-trial with

Hammarby IF Hammarby Idrottsförening ("Hammarby Sports Club"), commonly known as Hammarby IF or simply Hammarby ( or, especially locally, ), is a Swedish sports club located in Stockholm, with a number of member organizations active in a variety of differe ...

, appearing in friendlies for the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

club. He returned to Inter Allies before the start of the season in March, and went on to win the prize as "Man of the Match" in three league games throughout the year. In total, he made 37 competitive appearances for Inter Allies across two full seasons, scoring twice.

Hammarby IF

In early January 2018, Halik Hudu returned to Hammarby IF for a second trial. On 26 March, a week after his 18th birthday, Halik Hudu completed a permanent transfer to the

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...

club and signed a three and a half year-contract. On 23 August, Halik Hudu scored in his competitive debut for Hammarby, a 3–0 away win against

Carlstad United Carlstad United BK was a Swedish football club located in Karlstad. The club, formed in 1998, last played in the third highest Swedish league, Division 1 Norra. The club was affiliated to the Värmlands Fotbollförbund. They merged with Karlsta ...

in the

Svenska Cupen Svenska Cupen (, ''The Swedish Cup'') is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. Svenska Cupen usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also held. Each year 96 teams compe ...

. In 2019, Halik Hudu went on a season-long loan to

IK Frej IK Frej is a Swedish sports club located in Täby kyrkby. It currently plays in Division 4, the sixth tier in Swedish football. Background IK Frej was founded 5 February 1968 by Åke Berghagen and his friends. Today, IK Frej has more than 1200 ...

Superettan Superettan (; meaning the super first (division)) is an association football league and the second highest league in the league system of Swedish men's football. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Al ...

. He played 26 games and scored twice as the club was relegated from the Swedish second division. On 28 July 2020, Halik Hudu was loaned out to

for the remainder of the season, and also signed a one-year extension of his contract with Hammarby. On 30 May 2021, Halik Hudu won the

2020–21 Svenska Cupen The 2020–21 Svenska Cupen was the 65th season of the Svenska Cupen and the ninth season with the current format. Hammarby won the cup for the first time and secured a spot in the second qualifying round of the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference Le ...

, the main domestic cup, with Hammarby IF through a 5–4 win on penalties (0–0 after full-time) against

BK Häcken Bollklubben Häcken, more commonly known as BK Häcken or simply Häcken (), is a Swedish professional association football, football club based in Gothenburg. It currently plays in Allsvenskan, the top tier of Swedish football. Formed on 2 Augu ...

in the final.

Lyngby

On 16 July 2021, Halik Hudu signed a two-year contract with

Lyngby Kongens Lyngby (, Danish for "the King's Heather Town"; short form Lyngby) is the seat and commercial centre of Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality in the northern suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. Lyngby Hovedgade is a busy shopping street and the site of ...

in the second-tier

Danish 1st Division The 1st Division (''1. Division'') is the second-highest football league in Denmark, also known as NordicBet Liga for sponsorship reasons. From 1945 to 1991 the 1. Division was the name of the highest level of football in Denmark. With the forma ...

. He made his debut for the club on 30 July as a late substitute for

Rasmus Thellufsen Rasmus Thellufsen Pedersen (; born 9 January 1997) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Vendsyssel FF. Club career AaB Thellufsen was promoted to the senior team of AaB along with U19 teammates Magnus Christensen, ...

in a 2–1 away win over Jammerbugt.

AFC Eskilstuna

On 28 March 2022, Halik Hudu signed a two-year contract with

AFC Eskilstuna Athletic Football Club Eskilstuna, also known as AFC Eskilstuna or simply AFC, is a Swedish football club located in Eskilstuna. The club has previously been known under the names FC Café Opera and Väsby United before switching ownership and th ...

in Sweden.

Return to GIF Sundsvall

On 14 December 2023, Halik Hudu signed with

for three seasons.

International career

Halik Hudu has been capped by the Ghana national under-17 team. He also captained his country in an 8–0 victory against

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

in March 2016. In 2018, Halik Hudu was called up to the Ghana national under-20 team ahead of an

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

qualifier against

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

on 11 May.

Career statistics

Honours

Hammarby *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Individual * Most Promising Player of the Year in the

Ghanaian Premier League The is the top professional association football division of the football league system in Ghana. Officially formed in 1956 to replace a previous league incarnation, the Gold Coast Club Competition (which began in 1933 and ended in 1953–54), t ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Halik Hudu, Abdul 2000 births Living people Footballers from Accra Ghanaian men's footballers Ghanaian expatriate men's footballers Men's association football midfielders International Allies F.C. players Hammarby Fotboll players IK Frej players GIF Sundsvall players Lyngby Boldklub players AFC Eskilstuna players Allsvenskan players Superettan players Ettan Fotboll players Danish 1st Division players Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark