Kalif Alhassan (born 15 October 1990 in Accra) is a Ghanaian

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 for

PDX FC PDX Football Club is an American soccer club from Portland, Oregon, United States. The club was established in 2017 and currently plays in USL League Two. The club previously played in the National Premier Soccer League's West Region, Northwest C ...

USL League Two USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States and Canada, forming part of the United States soccer league syst ...

Career

Professional

Alhassan began his career with

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 ...

side

Liberty Professionals Liberty Professionals Football Club is a Ghanaian professional football club based in Dansoman, Accra. History Liberty Professionals, was founded in 1996 by Accra-based businessmen Felix Ansong and Alhaji Sly Tetteh. The club was one of the earl ...

in 2007, helping the club to the semifinals of the 2009 WAFU Club Championship. In 2010, Alhassan signed with Portland Timbers of the

USSF Division 2 Professional League The USSF Division 2 Professional League (D2 Pro League) was a temporary professional soccer league created by the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) for the 2010 season. The twelve-team league was formed as a compromise between the feuding Un ...

, in hopes of staying with the club in 2011 for their inaugural season in Major League Soccer, the top tier of the

United States soccer pyramid The United States soccer league system is a series of professional and amateur soccer leagues based, in whole or in part, in the United States. Sometimes called the American soccer pyramid, teams and leagues are not linked by the system of prom ...

. In his first start for the Timbers, Alhassan scored in second-half stoppage time to give Portland a 1–0 victory over

Puerto Rico Islanders Puerto, a Spanish word meaning ''seaport'', may refer to: Places *El Puerto de Santa María, Andalusia, Spain *Puerto, a seaport town in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines *Puerto Colombia, Colombia *Puerto Cumarebo, Venezuela *Puerto Galera, Orient ...

. In 2011 Alhassan became the third player in Major League Soccer history to open his career with assists in each of his first three home games, all Timbers wins. He scored his first MLS goal for the Timbers on the opening weekend of the 2012 MLS season, chipping the ball over Philadelphia Union goalkeeper

Zac MacMath Zachary Michael MacMath (born August 7, 1991) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper in Major League Soccer for Real Salt Lake. MacMath was drafted No. 5 overall in the 2011 MLS SuperDraft by the Philadelphia Union. ...

to seal the Timbers' victory at 3–1. In addition to his goal, Alhassan assisted on another goal and earned the free kick which led to the equalizing goal. For his performance, Alhassan was named Player of the Week for week 1 of the 2012 MLS season, becoming the first Timbers player ever to win the award. Alhassan played 1,867 minutes in 28 matches in 2015 for Minnesota United FC. On 17 December 2015, Alhassan was released by Minnesota and picked up by the Tampa Bay Rowdies. He then went to play for the New York Cosmos in 2017, but was released in July 2017. In August 2017, Alhassan signed for

Dila Gori FC Dila Gori is a Georgian football club based in Gori. The club takes part in Erovnuli Liga, the first tier of Georgian football system, and plays their home games at Tengiz Burjanadze Stadium. Dila won the Georgian Cup in 2012 and Georgian C ...

International

Alhassan began his international career in 2007 with the Ghana U-17 national team. He debuted with the Ghana U-20 national team in 2008 although he did not make the squad for the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup, won by Ghana. In May 2008 Alhassan was also called into a camp with the Ghana national team for the

2009 African Nations Championship The 2009 African Nations Championship was the first edition of the African Nations Championship in football. The tournament took place in Ivory Coast from 22 February to 8 March 2009. Thirty countries attempted to qualify for the tournament. Qu ...

, again missing out on the final squad.

Personal

Kalif is the son of former

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

international and two-time Africa Cup of Nations winner

George Alhassan George Alhassan, nicknamed Jair referring to Jairzinho is a retired Ghanaian footballer. He is best known for his exploits in the 1982 Africa Cup of Nations which saw him lift the trophy for the second time in his career. During his career he ...

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

*
Kalif Alhassan
at Portland Timbers {{DEFAULTSORT:Alhassan, Khalif 1990 births Living people Footballers from Accra Ghanaian footballers Ghanaian expatriate footballers Liberty Professionals F.C. players Portland Timbers (2001–2010) players Portland Timbers players Minnesota United FC (2010–2016) players Tampa Bay Rowdies players New York Cosmos (2010) players FC Dila Gori players OKC Energy FC players RoundGlass Punjab FC players USSF Division 2 Professional League players Major League Soccer players North American Soccer League players Erovnuli Liga players I-League players Association football midfielders Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate footballers in Georgia (country) Expatriate footballers in India USL League Two players