Alhassan Yusuf Abdullahi Pigui (born 20 July 2000) is a Nigerian 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 lea ...

who plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

club

New England Revolution The New England Revolution are an American professional association football, soccer club based in the Greater Boston area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. It is on ...

and the Nigeria national team.

The starts

Alhassan Yusuf arrived in Sweden to participate in a Scandinavian youth cup

Gothia cup The Gothia Cup () is an international youth association football tournament organized by professional football club BK Häcken, which has been held annually since 1975 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Considered the biggest tournament in the world in terms ...

with tiki-taka academy after and excellent performance he earned a professional contract with

IFK Göteborg Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Göteborg (officially IFK Göteborg Fotboll), commonly known as IFK Göteborg, IFK (especially locally) or Blåvitt, is a Swedish professional Football team, football club based in Gothenburg. Founded in 1904, it ...

Club career

IFK Göteborg

From 2018 to 2021, Yusuf played for

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

club

Antwerp

On 16 July 2021, Belgian club

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

announced that they had reached an oral agreement with IFK Göteborg over the transfer of Yusuf.

New England Revolution

On 12 August 2024, Yusuf signed a contract with

through the 2027 season, with a club option for the 2028 season. His transfer fee was officially undisclosed, but reportedly between $2–3 million. The Revolution were able to add Yusuf via MLS' “season-ending injury replacement mechanism;" given the club's loss of

Tomás Chancalay Tomás Alejandro Chancalay (born 1 January 1999) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a winger for Major League Soccer club New England Revolution. Club career Born in Viale, Entre Ríos, Chancalay joined Colón's youth setup ...

, who was sidelined in June with a torn ACL. Yusuf made his MLS debut on 14 September against

Orlando City SC Orlando City Soccer Club is an American professional soccer club based in Orlando, Florida. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Owned by Zygi, Leonard, and Mark Wilf, it is the sister club of ...

, coming on as a substitute for

Ian Harkes Ian Andrew Harkes (born March 30, 1995) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for Major League Soccer club San Jose Earthquakes. He previously played for Dundee United F.C. in The Scottish Championship and The Scotti ...

in the 72nd minute. He made his first start for the Revolution the following week on 21 September against

Charlotte FC Charlotte Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team is owned by David Tepper, who was awarded the e ...

, playing 75 minutes. On 28 September, Yusuf played his first full match for the Revolution, and recorded his first assist for the club, setting up Brandon Bye's 86th-minute game-winning goal in a 1-0 victory over

Nashville SC Nashville Soccer Club is an American professional soccer club based in Nashville, Tennessee. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team spent two seasons in the USL Championship before joining ...

International career

Yusuf made the final squad for the Nigeria national team for the

2023 Africa Cup of Nations The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, known in short as the 2023 AFCON or CAN 2023 and for sponsor (commercial), sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, was the 34th edition of the biennial Africa Cup of Nations tournam ...

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

. He made his AFCON debut against Equatorial Guinea on January 14, 2024 which ended in a 1-1 draw. He was substituted off in the 69th minute of the game after sustaining an injury.

Honours

IFK Göteborg *

Svenska Cupen Svenska cupen (, ), also known as the Swedish Cup in English, is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. ''Svenska cupen'' usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also ...

: 2019–20 Royal Antwerp *

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023 ...

: 2022–23 *

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (; ; ) is the main knockout football competition in Belgium, run by the Royal Belgian FA. The competition started in 1908 with provincial selections as the "Belgian Provinces Cup". Starting from 1912 only actual clubs were allowed ...

: 2022–23 *

Belgian Super Cup The Belgian Super Cup ( ; ; ), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian Pro League champions (also received the Super Cup host) and the Belgian Cup winners. If both teams are the same, ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Nigeria *

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

runner-up:

Individual *

Newcomer of the year:

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Orders *

Order_of_the_Niger_civil_division_ribbon

Member of the

Order of the Niger The Order of the Niger (OON) is the second highest Award, national award in Nigeria. It was instituted in 1963 and is junior to the Order of the Federal Republic, the highest order of merit in the country. Award The two highest honours, the Gr ...

References

External links

* * * 2000 births Living people Footballers from Kano Nigerian men's footballers Nigeria men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders IFK Göteborg players Royal Antwerp F.C. players New England Revolution players Allsvenskan players Belgian Pro League players Nigerian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in the United States 2023 Africa Cup of Nations players Belgian National Division 1 players Members of the Order of the Niger Major League Soccer players 21st-century Nigerian sportsmen {{Nigeria-footy-midfielder-stub