Aliu Djaló (born 5 February 1992) is a Bissau-Guinean

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 Icelandic side Hvöt. Beside Aliu Djaló, he is also widely known as ''Kaby Djaló'', or even simply ''Kaby''. He has represented the Guinea-Bissau national team but also has Portuguese citizenship.

Club career

Born in

Bissau Bissau () is the capital, and largest city of Guinea-Bissau. Bissau had a population of 492,004. Bissau is located on the Geba River estuary, off the Atlantic Ocean, and is Guinea-Bissau's largest city, major port, and its administrative and m ...

Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ) ...

, he spent his early career in Portugal, playing in the youth teams of Boavista since 2003. In 2007, he moved to England to join

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

side

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

where he played in their youth team until 2011. Afterwards, he was promoted to the Chelsea reserve squad in the first half of the 2011–12 season. During the winter break of the 2011–12 season, he moved to Cyprus and made his debut as a senior while playing with

AEL Limassol Athlitiki Enosi Lemesou ( el, Αθλητική Ένωση Λεμεσού, translation=Athletic Union of Limassol) commonly known as AEL, is a Cypriot sports club based in the city of Limassol, most famous for its football team. AEL also maintain ...

in the

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

contributing for AEL's championship winning squad. On 13 August 2012, Djaló arrived in Serbia and spent a period on trial at

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Bel ...

. In December 2012 Djaló spent a period on trial with League One side

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town L.F.C. Bridgwater United Women's Football Club are an English women's association football club based in Bridgwater, Somerset who wer ...

but failed to earn a contract. On 18 July 2013, Djaló signed with Marítimo. On 31 August 2016, Djaló returned to England after spells in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

and

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

to join

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

side

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The club was founded as Crawley Football Club in 1896, changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club in 1958. The team co ...

on a two-year deal. On 17 September 2016, Djaló made his Crawley debut in a 2–0 home victory against

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

, featuring for the entire 90 minutes. On 15 October 2016, Djaló scored his first goal for Crawley in their 2–1 away defeat against

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league syst ...

, netting in the 78th minute. On 14 May 2019, it was announced that Djaló would leave Crawley at the end of his current deal in June. In July 2019, Djaló joined Icelandic club

Njarðvík Njarðvík () is a town in southwestern Iceland, on the peninsula of Reykjanes. As of 2009, its population was 4,400. History In 1995 it merged with the town of Keflavík and the village of Hafnir to form the new municipality of Reykjanesbær. T ...

and the following year he remained in the country to play for Víðir.

International career

Despite being born in Guinea-Bissau, Djaló has represented Portugal at U-17 and U-18 level.Aliu Djaló
at ForadeJogo Djaló later joined the

Guinea Bissau national football team The Guinea-Bissau national football team (Portuguese: Seleção nacional de futebol da Guiné-Bissau) represents Guinea-Bissau in men's international association football and it is controlled by the Football Federation of Guinea-Bissau, The team ...

and made his debut in a

2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification The 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches were organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to decide the participating teams of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, the 31st edition of the international men's football champion ...

3–2 win over

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

Career statistics

Honours

;AEL Limasol *

winner: 2011–12 *

Cypriot Cup The Cypriot Cup () is the main cup competition in Cypriot football, run by the Cyprus Football Association (CFA). It began in 1934, the same season with the Cypriot Championship. It is the second most important competition for Cypriot club team ...

runner-up: 2012 ;PS Kemi *

Ykkönen ''Ykkönen'' (Finnish for 'Number One'; sv, Ettan) is the second highest level of the Finnish football league system (after the Veikkausliiga), although it is the highest league managed by the Football Association of Finland. The teams also play ...

winner:

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 ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Djalo, Aliu 1992 births Living people Sportspeople from Bissau Bissau-Guinean footballers Guinea-Bissau international footballers Bissau-Guinean emigrants to Portugal Portuguese footballers Portugal youth international footballers Portuguese people of Bissau-Guinean descent Association football midfielders Cypriot First Division players Liga I players Boavista F.C. players Chelsea F.C. players AEL Limassol players CS Gaz Metan Mediaș players Crawley Town F.C. players Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Expatriate footballers in Romania Expatriate footballers in Poland Expatriate footballers in Finland Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Iceland Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Romania Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Poland Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Finland Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in England Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Iceland MKP Pogoń Siedlce players Njarðvík FC players 2. deild karla players 1. deild karla players 3. deild karla players