Salisu Abdullahi "Alhaji" Gero (born 10 October 1993) is a Nigerian 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for Finnish club TPS.

Club career

Early years

Gero started out playing football in the streets of

Kano Kano may refer to: Places *Kano State, a state in Northern Nigeria *Kano (city), a city in Nigeria, and the capital of Kano State **Kingdom of Kano, a Hausa kingdom between the 10th and 14th centuries **Sultanate of Kano, a Hausa kingdom between ...

before signing his first professional contract with

El-Kanemi Warriors El-Kanemi Warriors Football Club is a football team based in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria. They play at El-Kanemi Stadium. They ended their 2005, season in the lower half of the Nigeria Premier League.They were relegated to the Nigeria Divisi ...

at age sixteen. The next year he moved on to

Lobi Stars Lobi Stars Football Club (formerly known as ''Mosquito football club'', ''Lobi Bank'', ''BBL Hawks'', and ''Hawks'') is a Nigerian professional soccer club based in Makurdi, Benue. The club competes in the Nigerian Professional Football League. ...

. During the midseason transfer window in April 2012, Gero moved to

Enugu Rangers Rangers International Football Club, commonly known as Enugu Rangers, is a Nigerian professional association football team. They are based in Enugu and play their home games at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium. Enugu Rangers are one of the three olde ...

from Kaduna United and scored instantly on his debut in against

Akwa United Akwa United Football Club is a Nigerian football club based in Uyo, Akwa Ibom. They play in the Nigeria Professional Football League, the first division of Nigerian football. The Godswill Akpabio International Stadium is the club's home stadium. ...

which helped his team to a valuable 1–1 draw that kept them in touching distance of winning the

2012 Nigeria Premier League The 2012 Nigeria Premier League is the 41st season of the competition since its inception, and the 22nd since the rebranding of the league as the "Professional League". Sixteen teams from the previous season and four teams promoted from the Niger ...

. In August 2013, Gero signed a contract with

Östers IF Östers Idrottsförening, commonly known as Östers IF or simply Öster, is a Swedish sports club located in Växjö, specializing in Association football, football, and playing in the second tier of Swedish football, Superettan. The club has ...

, a team relegated to the

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 ...

for the 2014 season (the 2nd highest league in Sweden). In December 2014, Danish club

Viborg FF Viborg Fodsports Forening ("Viborg Footsport Association"), or Viborg F.F. and VFF for short, is a Danish professional football club based in Viborg. The club was founded in 1896 and waited more than a century before winning its only national ...

announced that they signed Alhaji on a free transfer. He played 15 matches and scored 1 goal in his first season. On 16 January 2016,

and Gero agreed to terminate the contract after minimal playing time.

Östersunds

Gero signed with

Östersunds FK Östersunds Fotbollsklubb, commonly known simply as Östersunds FK, Östersund () or (especially locally) ÖFK, is a Swedish professional football club located in Östersund, Sweden and since 2022 play in the Swedish second tier, Superettan. The ...

on 18 January 2016. On 14 September 2017, he scored his first goal in a European competition against

Zorya Luhansk FC Zorya Luhansk ( uk, ФК «Зоря» Луганськ ) is a Ukrainian football team. Zorya Luhansk is based in the city of Luhansk, Ukraine. However, because of the Russo-Ukrainian War, the team play their games at Slavutych-Arena in Zapori ...

Esteghlal

On 8 August 2018, Gero signed for Iranian team Esteghlal on a three-year contract. He was given the number 9 shirt, the same jersey number he used to wear at

. Gero made his debut his debut on 10 August 2018 as a second-half substitute for

Voria Ghafouri Voria Ghafouri ( ku, وریا غەفووری, translit=Wirya Ghefûrî; fa, وریا غفوری; born 20 September 1987) is an Iranian retired footballer. He has played much of his career as a right-back and also played as a right winger occasi ...

in a 3–0 League victory against

Tractor Sazi Tractor Cultural Sports Economic Club ( fa, باشگاه فرهنگی ورزشی اقتصادی تراکتور, ''Bâšgâh-e Farhangi Varzeši Eqtesâdi-ye Terâktor''), commonly known as Tractor, formerly Tractor Sazi, is an Iranian football ...

. He scored his first goal for the club in Hazfi Cup round of 16 against

Saipa SAIPA ( fa, سایپا, ''SAIPA'') is an Iranian automaker headquartered in Tehran. The SAIPAC (an acronym for the French ''Société anonyme iranienne de production des automobiles Citroën'') was established in 1965 as with 75% Iranian ownersh ...

, a penalty in a match that finished 2–2 after 120 minutes but lost the match 1–3 in

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

eventually. On 16 December, his contract with Esteghlal was terminated by mutual agreement, having spent only four months with the club and failing to score any goals in the league.

Return to Sweden

On 25 February 2019, Östersunds re-signed Gero. On 9 July 2019, however, he signed a two-year contract with recently promoted club

Helsingborgs IF Helsingborgs IF (full name Helsingborgs Idrottsförening), commonly referred to as HIF (), is a Swedish professional football club located in Helsingborg. They play in the Swedish first tier, Allsvenskan, following promotion in the 2021 Superet ...

Move to Finland

On 13 August 2022, Gero joined Finnish club Jaro, signing a contract until the end of the season. On 8 March 2023, Gero signed a one-year contract with TPS in Finland.

International career

Gero made his debut for the Nigeria national under-20 team at the 8 nation tournament in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. He scored two goals on his competitive debut for the U20 team in their 2–1 away win against

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

at the

2013 African U-20 Championship qualification The 2013 African U-20 Championship qualification phase consisted of three rounds of two-legged matches. Some countries had a bye to the First Round. The winners of the Second Round matches qualifies for the finals. Preliminary round The first leg ...

. He scored again on the return leg of the same fixture which Nigeria has now won 4–1 on aggregate. Gero also played for the U20 team in the

2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the nineteenth edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, since its inception in 1977 as the FIFA World Youth Championship. It ran from 21 June to 13 July 2013. At the FIFA Executive Meeting in Zürich on 3 March 2011, ...

. At the same year 2013, he was called up for the Nigeria national team that played against the Ivory Coast national team for the

2014 African Nations Championship qualification The qualification phase for the 2014 African Nations Championship was played from November 2012 to August 2013. Qualification was divided into the CAF Regional Zones. Each zone had either two or three teams that qualified for the final tournament ...

Personal life

Gero's younger brother

Ahmad Ahmad ( ar, أحمد, ʾAḥmad) is an Arabic male given name common in most parts of the Muslim world. Other spellings of the name include Ahmed and Ahmet. Etymology The word derives from the root (ḥ-m-d), from the Arabic (), from the ve ...

is also a professional football player.

Career Statistics

Club

¹ Includes

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

and

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

matches.
² Includes appearance(s) in Superettan Relegation play-offs.

Honours

Club

;Viborg *

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 ...

: 2014–15 ;Östersunds *

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 ...

: 2016–17

References

External links

* *
archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gero, Alhaji 1993 births Sportspeople from Kano State Nigerian Muslims Living people Nigerian men's footballers Nigeria men's under-20 international footballers Nigeria men's international footballers Men's association football forwards El-Kanemi Warriors F.C. players Lobi Stars F.C. players Kaduna United F.C. players Rangers International F.C. players Östers IF players Viborg FF players Östersunds FK players Esteghlal F.C. players Helsingborgs IF players FF Jaro players Turun Palloseura footballers Allsvenskan players Superettan players Danish Superliga players Danish 1st Division players Persian Gulf Pro League players Ykkönen players Nigerian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Iran Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Iran Expatriate men's footballers in Finland Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Finland