Usman Abd'Allah (born 16 June 1974) is a Nigerian-French football coach. Abd'Allah is the

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

Early life

He was born in

Kano State Kano (Hausa language, Hausa: ) is one of the 36 States of Nigeria, states of Nigeria, located in the Northern Region, Nigeria, northern region of the country. According to the national census done in 2006, Kano State is the List of Nigerian st ...

in northern Nigeria. He began at Tarauni

Primary School A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

and went on to Government Secondary School,

Kazaure Kazaure is an Emirate and a Local Government Area of Jigawa State, Nigeria. Its headquarters is in the ancient city of Kazaure. Early history Kazaure was said to have been first settled by a group of Hausa (also known as Habe) hunter clan under ...

, before studying

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...

Kaduna State Kaduna (, جىِهَر كَدُنا; مدينة كدونا; , ; ) is a States of Nigeria, state in the northwest geopolitical zone of Nigeria. The state capital is its namesake, the city of Kaduna (city), Kaduna, which was the List of Nigerian ...

Polytechnic where he graduated in 1989.

Career

Player

His playing career spanned the continents of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. In Africa he turned out for various Nigerian Clubs, including Sanka Vipers of

Kano Kano may refer to: Places *Kano State, a state in Northern Nigeria *Kano (city), a city in Nigeria, and the capital of Kano State ** Kingdom of Kano, a Hausa kingdom between the 10th and 14th centuries ** Sultanate of Kano, a Hausa kingdom betwee ...

; UNTL of

Kaduna Kaduna is the capital city of Kaduna State, and the former political capital of Northern Nigeria. It is located in north-western Nigeria, on the Kaduna River. It is a trade center and a major transportation hub as the gateway to northern state ...

, Rocks of Kaduna,

Stationery Stores Stationery Stores Football Club is a Nigerian football club based in Lagos. History Stationery Stores Football Club was founded in 1958 by Israel Adebajo, who ran the very successful Nigerian Office Stationery Supply Stores Limited. They immedia ...

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

and Mogas 90 of

Benin Republic Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It was formerly known as Dahomey. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. The majority of its po ...

. He played in the

academic and festival teams in the 1980s and the national Under-20 and Under-23 teams along with his older brother – Hassan Abd'Allah. In 1991, he moved to Al Arabic FC and

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It competes in the B ...

. He moved to

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

where he played for

Jurong FC Jurong Football Club was a professional football club, based in Jurong, Singapore. The club played in S.League, the top division of football in Singapore from 1997 to 2003. The team's best league finishes in this period were fifth place in bot ...

, Khalsa FC and

Gombak United FC Gombak United Football Club was a professional Football (soccer), football club based in Bukit Gombak, Singapore that last competed in the top tier of the Singapore football league system. The club took part in the S.League from 1998 to 2002, ...

, while his odyssey in Asia also involved periods with top side

Sheikh Russel Sheikh Russel (October 18, 1964 – August 15, 1975) was the youngest child of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the former President of Bangladesh. Russel and most of his direct family were killed in their home during the 1975 military coup. Early life ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

and Kalantan FC in

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. At the twilight of his playing career, he returned to France and starred for Bollene FC and also FC Sete. Abd'Allah stopped playing in 2006 while with a

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

side in France.

Coach

He first coached in the French lower division for EPS FC, FC Sete, FC Frontignan and Bollene FC. He holds

UEFA B Licence The UEFA coaching licences are documents testifying credentials of managers/ coaches among members of UEFA. The governing body for football in Europe mandates several licences, each valid for coaching at a certain level. These include the UEFA Pro ...

Certificate and a UEFA A Licence obtained in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. He attended several coaching courses, including CAF courses and Strength and Conditioning Level 1 Coaching Certificate in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. He has degrees in football coaching and team management at Le CREPS de

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

, France, National Coaching Accreditation Programme (NCAP) Level 1 from

and the

LaLiga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

Coaching Certificate. He coached football club sides in Asia and France. He is the

Head Coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

and

Technical Adviser In film production, a technical advisor is someone who advises the film director, director on the convincing portrayal of a subject. The advisor's expertise adds realism both to the acting and to the setting of a movie. Nipo T. Strongheart was a n ...

at two time

African Champions League The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual club football competition organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) an ...

winner Enyimba International FC. They hold eight

Nigerian Professional Football League The Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) (formerly the Nigeria Professional Football League) is the highest level of club football in Nigerian football league system. The Nigerian Premier League has suffered like many others, from the financ ...

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 sys ...

s and four Federation Cups, Usman is currently the Third assistant of Nigeria super eagles. Before joining

Enyimba Aba is a city in southeastern Nigeria. It lies along the west bank of the Aba River and is at the intersection of roads leading to settlements such as Port Harcourt, Owerri, Umuahia, Ikot Ekpene, and Ikot-Abasi. Aba was established by t ...

, he coached in

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

with

Kano Pillars Kano Pillars Football Club is a Nigerian professional football (soccer), football club based in Kano (city), Kano, northwestern Nigeria. They play in the Nigeria Professional Football League, the first-tier division in Nigerian football. They pl ...

as an assistant coach and also oversaw the youth team of the club. He joined

initially as an assistant to Paul Aigbogun. He was later promoted to Head Coach and led the side to the

semi-finals A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, ...

of the

CAF Confederations Cup The CAF Confederation Cup, known as the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual association football club competition established in 2004 and organized by CAF. Clubs qualify for the competition based on th ...

, losing to

Raja Casablanca Raja Club Athletic, widely known as Raja Casablanca or simply Raja, is a Football team, football club based in Casablanca, Morocco, that competes in Botola, the top flight of Moroccan football league system, Moroccan football. Founded on 20 M ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

. He won the Nigeria Professional Football League title in 2018/19 season, finishing first ahead of his state club Kano Pillars.

Marriage and family

Usman Abd'Allah holds

dual citizenship Multiple citizenship (or multiple nationality) is a person's legal status in which a person is at the same time recognized by more than one sovereign state, country under its nationality law, nationality and citizenship law as a national or cit ...

with both

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. He is married to a French woman and together they have twin daughters. His family lives in France.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abd'Allah, Usman Living people 1974 births Nigerian expatriates in France French people of Nigerian descent Sportspeople from Kano French football managers Nigerian football managers Enyimba F.C. managers