Vahid Hambo (born 3 February 1995) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

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 ...

of Bosnian descent who plays as a striker for

IFK Mariehamn IFK Mariehamn is an Ålandic football club based in Mariehamn, the capital of the Åland Islands. It plays in the Finnish Premier Division (''Veikkausliiga''). The club is managed by Daniel Norrmén, and it plays its home matches at Wiklö ...

. He has been described as a tall, powerful player.

Club career

Early years

Born in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

to Bosnian parents, he played with his local team, HJK's youth sides before switching to

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, ...

's Primavera team. His time in Italy was blighted by injuries, and after two years his contract was terminated by mutual consent, after scoring only once in 23 games.

Ilves and Inter Turku

After his departure from Sampdoria, Hambo signed for

Ilves Ilves (; Finnish for " Lynx") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Tampere. They play in the Liiga at the Tampere Deck Arena. The colors of Ilves, green, yellow, and black, were taken from what was then the coat of arms of the city ...

in the Finnish second division,

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 ...

. He impressed and was quickly grabbed by

Inter Turku Football Club International Turku, commonly referred to as Inter Turku and colloquially known as Inter, is a professional football club based in Turku, Finland, that competes in the Veikkausliiga, the top flight of Finnish Football. Founded in 1 ...

in the top-flight

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 Veikkau ...

. His good form continued, but injuries limited his playing time, making only 6 appearances in the league. Despite this, he was hailed as one of Inter's best players.

Brighton

Still recovering from a knee injury, Hambo signed for

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

in the English

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

, joining fellow Finn Niki Mäenpää. The club's officials stated that Hambo would start playing for the reserve team firstly, to get him known to English football better and help recover from his injury.

SJK

On 19 July 2017, Hambo returned to Finland, signing for

club SJK until the end of the 2018 season.

RoPS

Hambo signed with

RoPS Rops may refer to: People * Daniel-Rops (1901–1965), French writer and historian * Félicien Rops (1833–1898), Belgian artist Places * Rops (peak), a mountain in Kosovo Sports * Rovaniemen Palloseura (RoPS), a Finnish football club Tech ...

in August 2018, but left the club again after the season.

Astra Giurgiu

On 7 February 2019 Vahid Hambo signed a contract, valid for two years and a half, with Romanian side

FC Astra Giurgiu Asociația Fotbal Club Astra Giurgiu (), commonly known as Astra Giurgiu or simply Astra, was a Romanian football club based in the city of Giurgiu, Giurgiu County. Founded in 1921 in Ploiești as ''Clubul Sportiv Astra-Română'', it spent the ...

Sūduva

On 12 September 2019 he became a member of Lithuanian

FK Sūduva Marijampolė FK or fk may refer to: In arts and entertainment: * Flyer Killer, fictional automated robots in the ''Terminator'' film franchise. * Fox Kids, a former American children's television programming block. * Funky Kong, a video game character. Place: ...

International career

Hambo has appeared for Finnish under 21-side. He was also selected for a match for the senior side in the 2016 Euro's qualifying, but had to withdraw due to his injury.

Honours

;Astra Giurgiu *

Cupa României The Cupa României ( en, Romanian Cup) is a Association football, football cup competition for List of football clubs in Romania, Romanian teams which has been held annually since 1933–34 Cupa României, 1933–34, except during World War II. I ...

: Runner-up 2018–19

External links

* *
Profile at veikkausliiga.com

Vahid Hambo , Twentyfour Management

References

Living people 1995 births Footballers from Helsinki Finnish people of Bosnia and Herzegovina descent Finnish footballers Finland youth international footballers Finland under-21 international footballers Association football forwards Klubi 04 players U.C. Sampdoria players FC Ilves players FC Inter Turku players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho players SJK Akatemia players Rovaniemen Palloseura players FC Astra Giurgiu players IFK Mariehamn players Kakkonen players Ykkönen players Veikkausliiga players Liga I players Finnish expatriate footballers Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Italy Finnish expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Romania Expatriate footballers in Romania {{Finland-footy-forward-stub