THE BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY:: BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : AFRO-SIERRA LEONEAN " MOHAMED KAMARA " WIDELY KNOWN AS MEDO IS A SIERRA LEONEAN FOOTBALLER WHO PLAYS FOR BOLTON WANDERERS AND THE SIERRA LEONE NATIONAL TEAM :

Sunday 13 April 2014

BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : AFRO-SIERRA LEONEAN " MOHAMED KAMARA " WIDELY KNOWN AS MEDO IS A SIERRA LEONEAN FOOTBALLER WHO PLAYS FOR BOLTON WANDERERS AND THE SIERRA LEONE NATIONAL TEAM :

BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY Mohamed Kamara (born 16 November 1987), widely known as Medo, is a Sierra Leonean footballer who plays for Bolton Wanderers and the Sierra Leonean national team. He also holds Finnish citizenship.^[1

Early life

Medo was born and raised in Bo, Sierra Leone. Both of his parents were said to have been killed during the civil war in Sierra Leone.^[2] However, this is a claim that has since been denied by Medo himself.^[3]

Club career

Early career

Medo started playing football in his school at the age of 7. His older brother, Kemoh Kamara, was teaching in the school and taught also football. At the age of 12, Medo joined his first club, Sierra Rangers. His football career took a great step forward after signing with top-division club Kallon in 2002.

Internationally, Medo played for the Sierra Leonean under-17 team that finished runner-up of the 2003 African U-17 Championship in Swaziland. He was also a member of the same team at the 2003 FIFA U-17 World Championship in Finland.

Career in Finland

After the FIFA youth tournament, Medo escaped, with a group of his teammates, from their accommodation and applied for asylum. After he got asylum, Medo was ineligible to play professional football until his 18th birthday. During the waiting period, he trained with LehPa-77 in Kontiolahti. Medo signed his first contract with Veikkausliiga club KuPS before the 2006 season. After a season and relegation with the Kuopio-based club, he moved to HJK in the Finnish capital.

In his first year with HJK, Medo played in every league match and was voted for the club MVP of the season. In March 2008, he signed a new three-year contract, which would keep him with HJK until the end of the 2010.^[4] In April 2010, Medo signed a contract extension at HJK to stay with the Finnish champions until June 2011.^[5] On 30 August 2010, he played his farewell match for HJK, in a 3–1 victory against IFK Mariehamn.^[6]

Despite the fact that he left HJK before the end of the season, Medo was awarded for the 2010 Veikkausliiga Player of the Year.^[7]

Partizan

On 31 August 2010, a day after his last match for HJK, Medo signed a three-year contract with Serbian side Partizan. He was presented with another Partizan gain, Pierre Boya.^[8]Medo made his debut for the club on 4 September 2010 in a home fixture against Hajduk Kula. He played for the full duration of the match as Hajduk were beaten 2–0. Medo also made five appearances in the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League group stage.

Bolton Wanderers

On 31 January 2013, Medo signed for English Championship club Bolton Wanderers on a three-and-a-half-year contract for an undisclosed fee, subject to international clearance.^[9]^[10] His debut came on 23 February as he came on as a substitute in Bolton's 4–1 win versus Hull City.^[11] His first goal for the club came on 30 March againstCharlton Athletic as he scored Bolton's second in a 2–3 defeat.^[12]

International career

After spending seven years in Finland, Medo has expressed his wish to play for the Finnish national team, but FIFA ruled this out as they rejected his application to play for Finland in December 2010.^[13] After FIFA's decision, Medo announced his availability for the Sierra Leonean national team and was subsequently called up to face Niger on 27 March 2011.^[14] Finally, Medo debuted for his homeland in that match playing the full 90 minutes.

Career statistics

Club[edit]

As of 6 February 2014

Club	Season	League		Cup		League Cup		Continental		Total
Club	Season	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
KuPS	2006	23	0	4	2	9	1	0	0	36	3
KuPS	Total	23	0	4	2	9	1	0	0	36	3
HJK	2007	26	2	4	0	7	1	4	0	41	3
	2008	26	4	5	0	7	0	0	0	38	4
	2009	23	3	1	0	8	2	2	1	34	6
	2010	16	4	3	1	6	1	4	1	29	7
	Total	91	13	13	1	28	4	10	2	142	20
Partizan	2010–11	18	0	6	0	–		5	0	29	0
	2011–12	26	0	4	0	–		6	0	36	0
	2012–13	8	0	0	0	–		6	0	14	0
	Total	52	0	10	0	–		17	0	79	0
Bolton Wanderers	2012–13	12	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	12	1
	2013–14	22	1	2	0	2	0	0	0	26	1
	Total	34	2	2	0	2	0	0	0	38	2
Career total		200	15	29	3	39	5	27	2	295	25