Nikolai Aleksanteri Alho (born 12 March 1993) 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 ...

who plays as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for Super League Greece club

Volos Volos ( el, Βόλος ) is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about north of Athens and south of Thessaloniki. It is the sixth most populous city of Greece, and the capital of the Magnesia regional unit ...

and the Finland national team.

Club career

HJK

A product of his local side HJK, Alho came through its reserves,

Klubi-04 Klubi 04 is a Finnish football club based in Helsinki. It is the reserve team of Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi for whom a number of the players are also registered. History Klubi 04 was founded in 2004 when HJK bought FC Jokerit. Initially Klubi 04 ...

, before signing a professional contract on 2011, keeping him with the Helsinki-based side until 2014. On 13 June 2013, he played his first league game for HJK and went on scoring twice in a 6−0 home win over FC Inter. Soon after performing well at HJK, he signed a contract that was effective until the end of 2015. In 2014 HJK qualified for the

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 ...

group stage. Alho scored the decisive goal against

Rapid Wien Sportklub Rapid Wien (), commonly known as Rapid Vienna, is an Austrian football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the first title in the season 1911–12, ...

, in the qualifying match.

Halmstads BK

Alho moved to Allsvenskan side

Halmstads BK Halmstads Bollklubb, also known simply as Halmstad () or (especially locally) HBK or Bollklubben, is a Swedish football club located in Halmstad in the county of Halland. The club, formed 7 February 1914 and approved membership in the Swedish ...

in January 2017. After a difficult season the team was relegated back to Superettan.

Return to HJK

Alho moved back to HJK for the 2018 season. After a successful season HJK won the Veikkausliiga. This was Alho's 4th domestic championship. During the 2018 season Alho was also played as a right back by former HJK manager Mika Lehkosuo. Alho, known for his speed, aggressiveness and crossing ability, he was a perfect fit for a modern-day right back. Alho made the switch and had a successful season as right back during the 2019 season.

MTK Budapest

He signed for Hungarian

Nemzeti Bajnokság I The Nemzeti Bajnokság (, "National Championship"), also known as NB I, is the top level of the Hungarian football league system. The league is officially named OTP Bank Liga after its title sponsor OTP Bank. UEFA currently ranks the league 28th ...

side MTK at the beginning of the 2021 winter transfer window.

Volos

He signed for Greek Super League Greece club Volos F.C. at the beginning of the 2022 winter transfer window, after his release from MTK.

International career

He made his senior debut for the

Finland national football team The Finland national football team ( fi, Suomen jalkapallomaajoukkue, sv, Finlands fotbollslandslag) represents Finland in men's international football competitions and is controlled by the Football Association of Finland, the governing body f ...

on 24 January 2014 at Nizwa Sports Complex in

Nizwa Nizwa ( ar, نِزْوَى, Nizwā) is the largest city in Ad Dakhiliyah Region in Oman and was the capital of Oman proper. Nizwa is about (1.5 hours) from Muscat. The population is estimated at around 72,000 people, including the two areas ...

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...

, in a friendly match against

. Alho was called up for the

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 ...

pre-tournament friendly match against Sweden on 29 May 2021.

Honours

;HJK *

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga (; sv, Tipsligan) is the premier division of Finnish football, the highest tier of the Finnish football league structure, comprising the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agency Veikka ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

Finnish Cup The Finnish Cup ( fi, Suomen cup; sv, Finlands cup) is Finland's main national cup competition in football. This yearly competition is open for all member clubs of the FA of Finland and has been played since 1955. The winner qualifies for the ...

Individual *

Team of the Year:

Outside football

Alho is also well known for making music. His debut single "Standing Right Here" went viral on YouTube and also hit radio stations in Finland in 2013. Alho was noticed by JVG the same year and signed a deal with their label, PME Records and WMG in December 2013. His contract with PME Records and WMG ended in November 2014. Alho has stated that he will continue to make music as a hobby but not sign again with a major label until after his football career is over. Football is and always has been his first priority. Alho is also the owner of an independent record label, 325 Media. Other owners include Jesse Joronen and Valtteri Moren.

Personal life

Alho's biological father is Ghanaian and his mother is Finnish. He was adopted soon after by his English mother and Finnish father and was raised in Espoo with his younger sister, also adopted. He is a native speaker of both English and Finnish. Alho attended the

International School of Helsinki The International School of Helsinki is an independent, co-educational, international school in Helsinki, Finland. It was founded as the British Preparatory School in 1963. ISH is an International Baccalaureate World School, with IB programs of ...

for the majority of his childhood, before transferring to Sports High School, Mäkelänrinteen Lukio.

Career statistics

References

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Profile at palloverkko.palloliitto.fi
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External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alho, Nikolai 1993 births Living people Footballers from Helsinki Men's association football defenders Finnish men's footballers Finland men's youth international footballers Finland men's under-21 international footballers Finland men's international footballers Finnish adoptees Finnish people of Ghanaian descent FC Honka players Klubi 04 players Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi players FC Lahti players Halmstads BK players MTK Budapest FC players Volos F.C. players Super League Greece players Veikkausliiga players Ykkönen players Kakkonen players Allsvenskan players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players UEFA Euro 2020 players Finnish expatriate men's footballers Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Hungary Expatriate men's footballers in Hungary Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Greece