Glen Adjei Kamara (born 28 October 1995) is a Finnish 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 club Rangers and the Finland national team. He began his senior career at Arsenal, where he made one substitute appearance in the

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

and was loaned to

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

and

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

. After 18 months at

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

, he joined fellow

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

side Rangers for £50,000. He made the

PFA Scotland Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Scotland Team of the Year (often called the PFA Scotland Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 44 footballers in the four national tiers of the Scottish foot ...

when they won the league title in

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 ...

. Kamara made his senior international debut for

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 ...

in 2017. He was named in their squad for

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

Club career

Youth career and Arsenal

Born in

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...

(

) to

Sierra Leonean Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

born-parents, Kamara started his career in England for Sunday side ''Westway'' of

Ladbroke Grove Ladbroke Grove () is an area and a road in West London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, passing through Kensal Green and Notting Hill, running north–south between Harrow Road and Holland Park Avenue. It is also a name given to ...

, before moving to the

youth system before moving to

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in 2012. At first Kamara joined up with the club's

Academy An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

. He went on to be an unused substitute for Arsenal's

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

match against

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...

in December 2014. Kamara made his only appearance for Arsenal a day before his 20th birthday on 27 October 2015, up against

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

in the

fourth round in an eventual 3–0 away loss; he started the match and was substituted for

Krystian Bielik Krystian Bielik (; born 4 January 1998) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a centre back and defensive midfielder for club Birmingham City, on loan from club Derby County, and for the Poland national team. He first played senio ...

after an hour. On 22 January 2016, Kamara returned to Southend in

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

, on loan for the rest of the season. He played six matches, all but one as a starter. On deadline day of the summer transfer window upon 31 August 2016, Kamara joined

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 ...

on loan until January 2017. He played six times, starting just once in the league.

Dundee

On 13 July 2017, Kamara signed a two-year deal with

. He made his debut for the club in a

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

game away to

Raith Rovers Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the Scottish Championship as a member of the Scottish Professional Football Leag ...

where he put in a man of the match performance.

Rangers

On 5 January 2019, Kamara signed a pre-contract with Rangers on a four-and-a-half year contract. On 31 January, this deal was brought forward when the two clubs agreed to a £50,000 transfer. He scored his first goal in senior club football on 27 February 2019, opening a 4–0 home win over his former club Dundee. On 18 March 2021, Kamara accused

Slavia Prague Sportovní klub Slavia Praha – fotbal (Sports Club Slavia Prague – Football, ), commonly known as Slavia Praha or Slavia Prague, is a Czech professional football club in Prague. Founded in 1892, they are the second most successful club in th ...

player

Ondřej Kúdela Ondřej Kúdela (; born 26 March 1987) is a Czech professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Liga 1 club Persija Jakarta and the Czech Republic national team. He previously played for Slovácko, Sparta Prague, Mlada Boleslav and ...

of racist verbal abuse during a

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 ...

knockout match. Kúdela denied the claims of racism and claimed that after the match Kamara physically assaulted Kúdela in the stadium tunnel in front of

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

officials and Rangers manager

Steven Gerrard Steven George Gerrard (born 30 May 1980) is an English professional football manager and former player, who most recently managed club Aston Villa. Described by pundits and fellow professionals as one of his generation's greatest players, Ge ...

. Ahead of the

Old Firm The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are by far the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply em ...

derby,

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

and Rangers players stood side by side in support of Kamara. On 14 April, UEFA officially found both Kamara and Kúdela guilty. Kúdela was banned for racial abuse for 10 UEFA matches, while Kamara was handed a three-match ban for assault. On 22 September 2021, Kamara signed a new four-year contract with the club that would see him remain with the club until the summer of 2025. Days later, he was sent off away to

Sparta Prague ) but refer to Spartans as "''Rudí''" ( en, The Dark Reds/The Maroons).'' Letenští'' , ground = Generali Česká pojišťovna Arena , capacity = 19,416 , clubname = Sparta Prague , image = Sparta Praha logo.png , image_size = 160px , fu ...

, a game in which his every touch was booed in relation to the Kúdela abuse; UEFA found insufficient evidence of a racial motive and did not punish the club.

International career

Kamara represented Finland at under-19 and under-21 level. He was an unused substitute for the senior side in a friendly against

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

in June 2015. On 9 November 2017, he made his debut in a 3–0 victory over the same country in a friendly match. He scored his first international goal to conclude a 2–0 home win over

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

in the

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The first tournament began in September 2018. The ...

on 15 October 2018. Kamara was called up for Finland's first major tournament, the delayed

in June 2021.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Finland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kamara goal.''

Honours

Rangers *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,2021–22 *

runner-up: 2019–20 *

UEFA 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 ...

runner-up: 2021–22 Individual *

2020–21 Scottish Premiership The 2020–21 Scottish Premiership was the eighth season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Scottish football (the 124th edition overall of the top national league competition, not including one cancelled due to World War II). ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kamara, Glen 1995 births Living people Footballers from Tampere Finnish footballers Finland youth international footballers Finland under-21 international footballers Finland international footballers Association football midfielders Southend United F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Dundee F.C. players Rangers F.C. players English Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players UEFA Euro 2020 players Finnish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Scotland Finnish expatriate sportspeople in England Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Finnish people of Sierra Leonean descent