Mohamed Kallon MOR (born 6 October 1979) is a Sierra Leonean football manager and former player who played as a striker. He is widely considered the most famous footballer from Sierra Leone. He made 39 appearances for the Sierra Leone national team during his career. Kallon is the younger brother of former Sierra Leonean international footballers Kemokai Kallon and Musa Kallon.

Early life

Kallon was born on 6 October 1979 in Kenema, Sierra Leone. Kallon is the younger brother to former Sierra Leone international footballers Kemokai Kallon and Musa Kallon. Mohamed Kallon attended primary school in Kenema and completed his secondary education at St. Edwards Secondary School in Freetown. During his early international career for Sierra Leone, Kallon was given the nickname Small Kallon by Sierra Leonean football

fans Fan commonly refers to: * Fan (machine), a machine for producing airflow, often used for cooling ** Hand fan, an implement held and waved by hand to move air for cooling * Fan (person), short for fanatic; an enthusiast or supporter, especially wit ...

because he was the youngest of the three Kallon brothers in the Sierra Leone national team.

Club career

Early career

After he completed his form three levels of education (

grade 9 Ninth grade, freshman year, or grade 9 is the ninth year of school education in some school systems. Ninth grade is often the first school year of high school in the United States, or the last year of middle/junior high school. In some countrie ...

in the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

) from St. Edwards Secondary School in Freetown in 1994, Kallon signed with the local club, Old Edwardians of the

Sierra Leone National Premier League Sierra Leone National Premier League is a professional football league in Sierra Leone. It was founded in 1967. The league is sponsored by the Sierra Leone Commercial Bank, one of the major Sierra Leonean banks. East End Lions and Mighty Blackpoo ...

at the age of 15. During the 1994–95 season, he struck fifteen goals in 24 league games for Old Edwardians and became the youngest player to ever play and score in

. After the 1994–95 season, Kallon left Old Edwardians and signed for Lebanese club Tadamon Sour. He spent one season with Spånga IS in Stockholm, Sweden. He was then signed by Inter Milan. He was then loaned to Swiss Super League club AC Lugano, Serie A club Bologna F.C. 1909 and Cagliari, and Serie B clubs Genoa He also farmed to Reggina and Vicenza in a co-ownership deal for an undisclosed fee and 9,000 billion lire respectively (€4,648,112). He played with Cristiano Zanetti at Cagliari, whom he later worked with again at Inter Milan.

Inter Milan

2001–02

After the abolition of the non-EU quota for each team halfway through the 2000–01 season, Kallon returned to Italian club Inter Milan before the start of the 2001–02 season., for a reported 8,500 billion lire transfer fee (€4,389,884). With

Christian Vieri Christian "Bobo" Vieri (; born 12 July 1973) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a centre forward. Having been born in Italy, Vieri moved with his family to Australia as a child, before returning to Italy to pursue his p ...

, Ronaldo, Álvaro Recoba, Adriano,

Hakan Şükür Hakan Şükür (; born 1 September 1971) is a Turkish former professional footballer who played as a striker. Nicknamed the "Bull of the Bosphorus" and ''Kral'' (king), he spent the majority of his professional career with Galatasaray, being a ...

and Nicola Ventola also in the side, Kallon was originally a third or fourth choice striker. But injuries to Ronaldo and Recoba meant that Kallon played 29 Serie A matches, scoring 9 goals and becoming the team's second highest scorer of the 2001–02 Serie A season, behind Vieri, as the club narrowly missed out on the league title, finishing in third place, also reaching the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup.

2002–03

He played nine times scoring five goals in Serie A in 2002–03 season due to injuries in August and February, as the team managed a second-place finish in the league. Kallon returned to the side in May after Gabriel Batistuta was injured in April. He also played both legs of the 2002–03 UEFA Champions League semi-final against

A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...

as Batistuta was unable to register. He played in both games as a second-half substitute, for Álvaro Recoba and Hernán Crespo respectively.

2003–04

Kallon tested positive for the banned substance

nandrolone Nandrolone, also known as 19-nortestosterone, is an androgen and anabolic steroid (AAS) which is used in the form of esters such as nandrolone decanoate (brand name Deca-Durabolin) and nandrolone phenylpropionate (brand name Durabolin). Nandrolon ...

after the Serie A match against Udinese Calcio on 27 September 2003 and was banned from football for eight months. Kallon then struggled to get into the starting eleven during the 2003–04 season, primarily due to the rise of young Nigerian striker Obafemi Martins and the return of Brazilian ace Adriano.

Monaco

Kallon signed a four-year contract with Monégasque club

AS Monaco Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club SA, commonly referred to as AS Monaco () or Monaco, is a professional football club based in Monaco that is member of French Football Federation (FFF) and competes in Ligue 1, the top tier of Frenc ...

before the start of the 2004–05 season, as the

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 competi ...

runners-up had lost Dado Pršo and

Fernando Morientes Fernando Morientes Sánchez (; born 5 April 1976) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a striker, currently a manager. He played for a number of clubs during his career, including Real Madrid, Monaco, Liverpool and Valenci ...

. He was impressive during his first season at Monaco, but quickly fell out with French manager

Didier Deschamps Didier Claude Deschamps (; born 15 October 1968) is a French professional football manager and former player who has been manager of the France national team since 2012. He played as a defensive midfielder for several clubs, in France, Italy, ...

, and was relegated to the bench in March 2005. He moved on loan to Saudi club Al-Ittihad on 29 July 2005. He helped the team win the 2005 AFC Champions League, leading the competition with six goals scored, including goals in each legs of the semi-final and final respectively. He also played at the

2005 FIFA Club World Championship The 2005 FIFA Club World Championship (officially known as the FIFA Club World Championship Toyota Cup Japan 2005 for sponsorship reasons) was the second FIFA Club World Championship, a football competition organised by FIFA for the champion club ...

with Al-Ittihad before returning to Monaco in 2006. He played 12 Ligue 1 matches in his last full season with Monaco during the 2006–07 campaign. He played his last match in league play on 11 August 2007 against

FC Lorient Football Club Lorient Bretagne Sud (; commonly referred to FC Lorient or simply Lorient) is a French association football club based in Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town ('' commune'') and seaport in the Morbihan department of Brittany in we ...

, the second match of the season, before he was released by Monaco. He underwent a trial with Birmingham in September 2007, after previously being linked with

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

in July. However, Kallon failed to qualify for a work permit in England, as Sierra Leone ranked 79th in the FIFA World Rankings in September 1997, but the requirement was above 70th for non-EU internationals. In November 2007, he signed a pre-contract with Al Hilal, but this later collapsed.

AEK Athens

Kallon signed a six-month contract with Greek club

AEK Athens A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadel ...

on 29 January 2008. He played for the capital club in the UEFA Cup 2007–08 round of 32 against

Getafe Getafe () is a municipality and a city in Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 180,747, the region's sixth most populated municipality. Getafe is located 13 km south of Madrid's city centre, within a flat ar ...

, but AEK lost 4–1 on aggregate, with no goals from Kallon. He also played in the Super League Greece playoffs to determine qualification to European competition. He scored once in his three appearances, and AEK finished second to qualify for the following year's UEFA Cup. Greek fans remember him especially for an excellent goal against PAOK in a 4–0 win, when he scored with a chip shot outside the box.

Al-Shabab

He moved to Al-Shabab of the United Arab Emirates in 2008. He was released after picking up a serious injury in an international match.

Kallon FC

In October 2009, he signed for his own club Kallon FC.

Shaanxi Baorong Chanba

On 1 March 2010, he joined the Chinese championship, signing a one-year deal with Shaanxi Baorong Chanba. Kallon made his CSL debut against

Dalian Shide Dalian Shide was a professional Chinese football club based in Dalian, Liaoning province, China who played in China's football league system between 1955 and 2012. Their home stadiums were the 55,843 capacity Dalian People's Stadium and then late ...

on 28 March and scored a penalty kick in 50th minute. He decided to leave after his contract was finished in December to be closer to his family. He returned to Kallon F.C. ahead of the 2012 CAF Confederation Cup, and scored the winning goal that got them to the second round. On 26 June 2014, was named the head coach of Sierra Leone u-17 side. On 22 March 2016, he announced his retirement as a player, having last played in 2014.

International career

Kallon became the youngest player to ever play for the Leone Stars when he made his senior international debut for Sierra Leone at the age of fifteen in April 1995 against Congo in the 1996 African Cup of Nations qualifier in Freetown, in which he scored the winner. At the age of 16, Kallon was the youngest player at the 1996 African Nations cup in South Africa. He scored one of his country's two goals as Sierra Leone defeated Burkina Faso 2–1 in their opening group match at the 1996 African Nations Cup, played at the

Free State Stadium The Free State Stadium ( af, Vrystaatstadion), currently known as the Toyota Stadium for sponsorship reasons and formerly known as Vodacom Park, is a stadium in Bloemfontein, South Africa, used mainly for rugby union and also sometimes for associa ...

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein, ( ; , "fountain of flowers") also known as Bloem, is one of South Africa's three capital cities and the capital of the Free State province. It serves as the country's judicial capital, along with legislative capital Cape To ...

, South Africa. Since then, he is the key member of ''Leone Stars'' and active at

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, 2002, 2006 and 2010 World Cup qualification. His most recent cap is on 9 February 2011 against Nigeria in a friendly. Kallon was the captain of the Sierra Leone national team but quit his captaincy after the team failed to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the

2010 African Cup of Nations The 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 27th Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was held in Angola, where it began on 10 January 2 ...

Club owner

Kallon is the founder and owner of the Sierra Leonean football club Kallon F.C., currently playing in the

. Kallon is one of the top clubs in the Sierra Leone National Premier League and play their home games at the National Stadium in Freetown. Previously known as Sierra Fisheries, Kallon acquired the club in 2002 for $30,000. Kallon FC won the Sierra Leonean FA Cup, and the Sierra Leone League title in 2006, and qualifying for the African Champions League.

Personal life

Mohamed Kallon is a devout Muslim and a member of the Mandingo ethnic group. Kallon is married to his childhood girlfriend M'mah Mansaray. The couple celebrated their wedding at the Freetown Central Mosque in Freetown on 15 June 2002. Kallon is the younger brother of former Sierra Leonean international footballers Kemokai Kallon and Musa Kallon.

Mohamed Kallon Children's Foundation

Apart from the Kalleone Group of Company, comprising a musical recording studio, radio station, newspaper, sportshops, old Skool night club, pharmacy and FC Kallon, Mohamed Kallon is also about to launch his charity foundation, the MKCF, Mohamed Kallon Children's Foundation, which will cater for the needs of hundreds of Sierra Leone's street children. Recently Mohamed Kallon told SierraEye Magazine that as a boy himself who grew up in the streets of Freetown he is moved by the state of Sierra Leone Street Children and want to do all he can to help them. The foundation has made headways recently meeting with the president and working together with the United Nations and other NGOs to provide help for several Sierra Leonean children and also aiding the HIV/AIDS sensitisation programme in Sierra Leone. x The setting up of MKCF by Kallon gained massive media coverage and even the BBC reported on it.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Sierra Leone's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kallon goal.''

Honours

Al-Ittihad * AFC Champions League: 2005 Individual * AFC Champions League Top Scorer: 2005 * Sierra Leone Order of the Rokel: 2013

References

External links