Mohamed Kallon

Mohamed Kallon MOR (born 6 October 1979) is a Sierra Leonean football manager and former player. A striker, Kallon played for Inter Milan from 2001 to 2004, and is widely considered the most famous footballer from Sierra Leone. He was then loaned to Swiss Super League club AC Lugano, Serie A club Bologna and Cagliari, as well as Serie B club Genoa. He was 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, Ronaldo, Álvaro Recoba, Adriano, Hakan Şükür 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 nine 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 AC Milan 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 after the Serie A match against Udinese 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 Monaco before the start of the 2004–05 season, as the UEFA Champions League runners-up had lost Dado Pršo and Fernando Morientes. He was impressive during his first season at Monaco, but quickly fell out with French manager Didier Deschamps, 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 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 Lorient, the second match of the season, before he was released by Monaco. He underwent a trial with Birmingham City in September 2007, after previously being linked with Derby County 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 on 29 January 2008. He played for the capital club in the UEFA Cup 2007–08 round of 32 against Getafe, 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-Shaab In August 2008, Kallon signed with UAE Pro League club Al-Shaab for the 2008–09 season. He was released from his contract after a few months due to poor performances.

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

Later career On 1 March 2010, he joined the Chinese championship, signing a one-year deal with Shaanxi Chanba. Kallon made his CSL debut against Dalian Shide 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. In 2011, he moved to India and signed with I-League club Chirag United Kerala.

He returned to Kallon 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 in Bloemfontein, South Africa.

He was a key member of Leone Stars and active at 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2010 World Cup qualification. 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. His last game with Sierra Leone was on 16 June 2012, in the first round of the 2013 CAN qualification.

Managerial career On 12 February 2025, he was appointed manager of Sierra Leone national team by the Sierra Leone Football Association.

On 3 April 2026, he was dismissed by the Sierra Leone FA three days after a defeat in the penalty shoot out against Azerbaijan in the 2026 FIFA Series, having managed Sierra Leone for seven games with a record of three wins, two draws and two defeats.

Club owner Kallon is the founder and owner of the Sierra Leonean club Kallon,

Kallon won the Sierra Leonean FA Cup, the Sierra Leone League title in 2006 and qualified for the African Champions League.

Personal life 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 + Appearances and goals by national team and year 3 June 1995 Freetown, Sierra Leone 5–1 1 1996 African Cup of Nations qualification 15 January 1996 Bloemfontein, South Africa 2–1 1 1996 African Cup of Nations 18 January 1996 Bloemfontein, South Africa 0–2 0 1996 African Cup of Nations 16 June 1996 Freetown, Sierra Leone 0–1 0 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification 9 November 1996 Rabat, Morocco 0–4 0 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification 11 January 1997 Freetown, Sierra Leone 1–0 0 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification 5 April 1997 Freetown, Sierra Leone 1–1 0 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification 26 April 1997 Freetown, Sierra Leone 0–1 0 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification 17 August 1997 Obuasi, Ghana 2–0 1 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification 22 April 2000 Freetown, Sierra Leone 4–0 0 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification 17 June 2000 Lagos, Nigeria 0–2 0 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification 9 July 2000 Accra, Ghana 0–5 0 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification 25 February 2001 Paynesville, Liberia 0–1 0 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification 10 March 2001 Freetown, Sierra Leone 0–2 0 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification 21 April 2001 Freetown, Sierra Leone 1–0 0 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification 14 July 2001 Freetown, Sierra Leone 0–1 0 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification 8 June 2003 Casablanca, Morocco 0–1 0 2004 African Cup of Nations qualification 22 June 2003 Freetown, Sierra Leone 2–0 1 2004 African Cup of Nations qualification 12 October 2003 Brazzaville, Republic of Congo 0–1 0 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification 24 March 2007 Lomé, Togo 1–3 1 2008 Africa Cup of Nations qualification 17 October 2007 Freetown, Sierra Leone 1–0 0 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification 17 November 2007 Bissau, Guinea-Bissau 0–0 0 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification 1 June 2008 Malabo, Equatorial Guinea 0–2 0 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification 14 June 2008 Freetown, Sierra Leone 1–0 1 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification 21 June 2008 Atteridgeville, South Africa 0–0 0 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification 6 September 2008 Freetown, Sierra Leone 2–1 0 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification 11 October 2008 Abuja, Nigeria 1–4 0 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification 9 February 2011 Lagos, Nigeria 1–2 0 Friendly

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