# Medo Kamara

Mohamed Kamara (born 16 November 1987), widely known as Medo, is a Sierra Leonean professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for HJS.

## Early life

Kamara was born in Port Loko and raised in Bo, Sierra Leone. Both of his parents were said to have been killed during the civil war in Sierra Leone. However, this is a claim that has since been denied by Kamara himself.

## Club career
### Early career

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

### Career in Finland

After playing for the national youth selection at the 2003 FIFA U-17 World Championship held in Finland, Kamara escaped along with several teammates from their accommodation and applied for asylum. After he got asylum, Kamara was ineligible to play professional football until his 18th birthday. During the waiting period, he trained with LehPa-77 in Kontiolahti. Kamara 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, Kamara 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. In April 2010, Kamara signed a contract extension at HJK to stay with the Finnish champions until June 2011. On 30 August 2010, he played his farewell match for HJK, in a 3–1 victory against IFK Mariehamn.
Despite the fact that he left HJK before the end of the season, Kamara was awarded for the 2010 Veikkausliiga Player of the Year.

### Partizan

On 31 August 2010, a day after his last match for HJK, Kamara signed a three-year contract with Serbian side Partizan. He was presented with together with Pierre Boya. Kamara 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. Kamara also made five appearances in the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League group stage.

### Bolton Wanderers

On 31 January 2013, Kamara signed for English Championship club Bolton Wanderers on a three-and-a-half-year contract for an undisclosed fee, subject to international clearance. His debut came on 23 February as he came on as a substitute in Bolton's 4–1 win versus Hull City. His first goal for the club came on 30 March against Charlton Athletic as he scored Bolton's second in a 2–3 defeat.
On 19 January 2015, Kamara was officially loaned to Maccabi Haifa for the remainder of the 2014–15 season.
After returning from loan to Bolton, Kamara failed to make any competitive appearance for the club, before being released by mutual agreement in January 2016.

### Return to HJK

In March 2016, Kamara returned to his former club HJK.

### Kazma

On 31 January 2019, it was confirmed that Kamara had signed for another Kuwaiti side, Kazma SC in the Kuwait Premier League. Kamara had been without club for six months since his departure from Kuwait SC.
In 2022 Medo signed contract with Finnish second division club Gnistan. In 2024 he joined Finnish club HJS, which plays third tier football in Finland.

## International career

Internationally, Kamara 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.
By 2010, he had received Finnish citizenship. After spending seven years in Finland, Kamara 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. After FIFA's decision, Kamara announced his availability for the Sierra Leonean national team and was subsequently called up to face Niger on 27 March 2011. Finally, Kamara debuted for his homeland in that match playing the full 90 minutes.

## Career statistics
### Club

    As of match played 29 October 2023
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition :
| Club | Season | League | League | League | National cup | National cup | League cup | League cup | Continental | Continental | Other | Other | Total | Total |
| Club | Season | Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| KuPS | 2006 | Veikkausliiga | 23 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 36 | 3 |
| HJK | 2007 | Veikkausliiga | 26 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 0 | — | — | 41 | 3 |
| HJK | 2008 | Veikkausliiga | 26 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 38 | 4 |
| HJK | 2009 | Veikkausliiga | 23 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 1 | — | — | 34 | 6 |
| HJK | 2010 | Veikkausliiga | 16 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | — | — | 29 | 7 |
| HJK | Total | Total | 91 | 13 | 13 | 1 | 28 | 4 | 10 | 2 | — | — | 142 | 20 |
| Partizan | 2010–11 | Serbian SuperLiga | 18 | 0 | 6 | 0 | – | – | 5 | 0 | — | — | 29 | 0 |
| Partizan | 2011–12 | Serbian SuperLiga | 26 | 0 | 4 | 0 | – | – | 6 | 0 | — | — | 36 | 0 |
| Partizan | 2012–13 | Serbian SuperLiga | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 6 | 0 | — | — | 14 | 0 |
| Partizan | Total | Total | 52 | 0 | 10 | 0 | – | – | 17 | 0 | — | — | 79 | 0 |
| Bolton Wanderers | 2012–13 | Championship | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 12 | 1 |
| Bolton Wanderers | 2013–14 | Championship | 35 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 39 | 2 |
| Bolton Wanderers | 2014–15 | Championship | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 6 | 0 |
| Bolton Wanderers | Total | Total | 52 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 57 | 3 |
| Maccabi Haifa (loan) | 2014–15 | Israeli Premier League | 16 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 17 | 1 |
| HJK | 2016 | Veikkausliiga | 21 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | — | — | 30 | 1 |
| Kuwait SC | 2016–17 | Kuwait Premier League | ? | 2 | ? | ? | – | – | ? | ? | — | — | ? | 2 |
| Kuwait SC | 2017–18 | Kuwait Premier League | ? | 1 | ? | ? | – | – | ? | ? | — | — | ? | 1 |
| Kuwait SC | Total | Total | ? | 3 | ? | ? | – | – | ? | ? | – | – | ? | 3 |
| FC Haka | 2020 | Veikkausliiga | 18 | 1 | 3 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | — | — | 21 | 1 |
| IF Gnistan | 2022 | Ykkönen | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | — | — | 8 | 0 |
| IF Gnistan | 2023 | Ykkönen | 23 | 1 | 7 | 0 | – | – | — | — | 2 | 0 | 32 | 1 |
| IF Gnistan | Total | Total | 31 | 1 | 7 | 0 | – | – | — | — | 2 | 0 | 40 | 1 |
| Career total | Career total | Career total | 304 | 23 | 43 | 3 | 40 | 5 | 33 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 422 | 33 |
* ↑ Appearances in UEFA Cup
* 1 2 3 Appearances in UEFA Europa League
* 1 2 Appearances in UEFA Champions League
* ↑ Four appearances in UEFA Champions League, two appearances in UEFA Europa League
* ↑ Appearances in Relegation playoffs

### International

Appearances and goals by national team and year :
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
| Sierra Leone | 2011 | 4 | 0 |
| Sierra Leone | 2012 | 5 | 1 |
| Sierra Leone | 2013 | 4 | 0 |
| Sierra Leone | 2014 | 6 | 1 |
| Sierra Leone | 2015 | 4 | 0 |
| Sierra Leone | 2016 | 5 | 0 |
| Sierra Leone | 2017 | 1 | 0 |
| Sierra Leone | 2018 | 1 | 0 |
| Sierra Leone | 2020 | 2 | 0 |
| Sierra Leone | 2021 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | Total | 33 | 2 |
    Scores and results list Sierra Leone's goal tally first.
| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
| 1 | 2 June 2012 | National Stadium, Freetown | Cape Verde | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 2 | 19 November 2014 | Stade Tata Raphaël, Kinshasa | DR Congo | 1–0 | 1–3 | 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualification |

## Honours

KuPS
* Finnish League Cup: 2006
HJK
* Veikkausliiga: 2009
* Finnish Cup: 2008
Partizan
* Serbian SuperLiga: 2010–11, 2011–12
* Serbian Cup: 2010–11
Individual
* Veikkausliiga Player of the Year: 2010
* Serbian SuperLiga Team of the Season: 2011–12