Alhaji Kamara (born 16 April 1994) is a Sierra Leonean 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 ...

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 the danish football club

Randers FC Randers FC () is a professional football club based in Randers, East Jutland, Denmark, that plays in the Danish Superliga, the top flight of the Danish football league system. Founded on 1 January 2003, the club builds upon the license of Rand ...

and the Sierra Leone national team.

Club career

He started his professional career at FC Kallon in the

Sierra Leone National First Division Sierra Leone National First Division is the second highest football league in Sierra Leone, after the Sierra Leone National Premier League. Along with the Sierra Leone National Premier League, they are the two major football leagues in Sierra Leon ...

. At a young age, he had trials with

Tippeligaen Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion ...

club

Fredrikstad FK Fredrikstad Fotballklubb (also known as Fredrikstad or FFK) is a Norwegian association football, football club from the town of Fredrikstad. With nine league championships and eleven Norwegian Football Cup, Norwegian Cup wins, FFK is one of the ...

and

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional men's soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The Timbers have played their home games at P ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

. Eventually he was signed by Swedish club

Djurgårdens IF Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is a Swedish sports association with several sections, located in Stockholm. Name The club is named ...

just after turning 18 years old. Kamara failed to make an impact at Djurgårdens IF, and instead enjoyed loan spells 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 ...

and

IFK Värnamo IFK Värnamo is a Swedish football club located in Värnamo. The club plays in the Allsvenskan, the top tier of Swedish football. The most famous player from the club is Jonas Thern, who was captain of the Swedish national football team when the ...

. Before the 2014 season, he was signed by

IFK Norrköping Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Norrköping, more commonly known as IFK Norrköping or simply Norrköping, is a Swedish professional football club based in Norrköping. The club is affiliated to Östergötlands Fotbollförbund and play their ...

, where he positioned himself as a key player during his first season. On 31 March 2015, Kamara was loaned out to Malaysia's Super League champion,

Johor Darul Ta'zim Johor Darul Ta'zim Football Club or simply JDT is a professional Association football, football club based in Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. The club was founded in 1972 as PKENJ FC and currently competes in the top division of Malaysian football ...

from

. However, the loan was cancelled in July 2015. He returned to Norrköping, and featured fourteen times as the team won the

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

. Kamara signed for

D.C. United D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Supp ...

on 11 May 2016. Kamara scored with his first touch in his debut for

just seconds after coming on against

Sporting Kansas City Sporting Kansas City, often shortened to Sporting KC, is an American men's professional Association football, soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The administrative offices are located in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri, and t ...

Children's Mercy Park Children's Mercy Park is a soccer-specific stadium in Kansas City, Kansas, United States, and is the home of Sporting Kansas City. The stadium is located near Kansas Speedway, on the far west side of Wyandotte County, Kansas. It opened during t ...

. His goal was the difference, as

United United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

went on to win the match 1–0. During his time with United's

USL The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, p ...

affiliate, the

Richmond Kickers Richmond Kickers is an American professional soccer club based in Richmond, Virginia. The Kickers compete as a member of USL League One (USL-1). The club was established in 1993, and began play that same year as a United States Interregional S ...

, he scored a hat-trick on May 27, 2017. On June 23, 2017, Kamara signed with Al-Taawoun. On 2 February 2018, Kamara signed for

Sheriff Tiraspol Fotbal Club Sheriff (russian: ФК Шериф Тирасполь), commonly known as Sheriff Tiraspol or simply Sheriff, is a Moldovan professional football club based in Tiraspol, a city located in the unrecognised breakaway state of Transnist ...

. After one year in the club, he moved to

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each yea ...

club

Vendsyssel FF Vendsyssel Forenede Fodboldklubber is a professional football club based in Hjørring, Denmark. The team competes in the Danish 1st Division, the second tier of Danish football. The club plays home matches at Nord Energi Arena, which has a capaci ...

on 19 February 2019. On 15 May 2019 it was confirmed, that Kamara would join

for the 2019–20 season on a free transfer.Officielt: Randers snupper Kamara
bold.dk, 15 May 2019

Heart defect

In February 2016, it was reported that Kamara has a potential cardio issue that could have eliminated him from professional play. Kamara was effectively put on an indefinite restrain from playing football. Kamara was evaluated by MLS Cardiologist Consultant Matthew Martinez of Allerton PA who is a specialist at

MedStar Georgetown University Hospital MedStar Georgetown University Hospital is one of the Washington, D.C. area's oldest academic teaching hospitals. It is a not-for-profit, acute care teaching and research facility located in the Georgetown neighborhood of the Northwest Quadrant ...

. Through rigorous testing, Kamara was found that it was not the case that his condition could cause concern, and he was cleared to continue in his professional career with full medical clearance and it was announced that Kamara intended to continue his career in

club

where he would be allowed to play, with the understanding that he would undergo tests for preventative measures at the end of each season.

Career statistics

:''As of 12 May 2016.''

International goals

:''Scores and results list Sierra Leone's goal tally first.''

Honours

IFK Norrköping *

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 ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

Randers *

Danish Cup The Danish Cup ( da, Landspokalturneringen; often referred to as Pokalen) is the official "knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955. The winner will quali ...

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 ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kamara, Alhaji 1994 births Living people Sierra Leonean men's footballers Sierra Leonean expatriate men's footballers Allsvenskan players Superettan players Ettan Fotboll players Major League Soccer players USL Championship players Saudi Pro League players Moldovan Super Liga players Danish Superliga players Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Sierra Leonean expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Malaysia Sierra Leonean expatriate sportspeople in Malaysia Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Sierra Leonean expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Saudi Arabia Sierra Leonean expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Expatriate men's footballers in Moldova Sierra Leonean expatriate sportspeople in Moldova Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Sierra Leonean expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Men's association football forwards Sierra Leone men's international footballers 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players F.C. Kallon players Djurgårdens IF Fotboll players IK Frej players IFK Värnamo players IFK Norrköping players Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C. players D.C. United players Richmond Kickers players Al Taawoun FC players FC Sheriff Tiraspol players Vendsyssel FF players Randers FC players