Finland: All-Europe WR/KR Alpha Jalloh returns to the Wasa Royals

| American Football | 01/29/2023

The Wasa Royals have announced the re-signing of wide receiver/kick returner Alpha Jalloh for the 2023 Finnish Maple League season.

Jalloh helped the Royals win the Spaghetti Bowl (DI Championship) and now looks to lead the team into their return to the Maple League after a short absence.

The versatile Jalloh is a difference maker and in 2021 he played for the Leipzig Kings in the European League of Football, ELF, and was a feared kick returner for the team and an AFI All-Europe Team selection. Until teams started kicking away from him, the 28-year-old Jalloh returned 18 kickoffs for a total of 649 yards, including one 100-yard return, for an average of 36 yards a return. He also scored three touchdowns.

This past season he helped the Stockholm Mean Machines win the Scandinavian Cup, while also playing for the Royals.

Following the ELF season, Jalloh signed with the Bucharest Rebels in the Romanian Football League helping them win the Romanian championship.

Jalloh, who was named to the AFI All-Pandemic Team in 2020, played the final two regular season games of the 2020 season and the playoffs with the Mean Machines. He still managed to cause problems for opposing teams. In the final two regular season games, he caught 13 passes for 137 yards and two touchdowns and in the semifinal and championship game he had a combined 321 all-purpose yards, by far tops among all the teams.

Before arriving in Sweden in 2020, Jalloh had just finished playing in the Maple League for the Royals, helping the Royals to a semifinal finish.

During the shortened season in Finland that year, he had a huge impact for the Royals. He led all receivers in the league in yardage with 22 catches for 457 yards and five touchdowns, rushed 25 times for 228 yards (9.1 yds/carry) and was also the leading kick returner with seven returns for 209 yards and he returned five punts for 119 yards and a touchdown. And he played defense. He had a team high 187 yards rushing against the Kuopio Steelers and 213 yards receiving against the Helsinki Wolverines.

In 2019, Jalloh helped the Mean Machines win their second straight Swedish title and 12th overall and then finished the year with the Royals. In the six games he played, he caught 29 passes for 747 yards and nine touchdowns and led the league in yards per game with 124.5.

The 6’2″. 205 lb native of Annapolis, Maryland had an outstanding season with the Mean Machines in 2019 with 284 yards receiving while returning kicks and playing defensive back. He spent the 2018 season with the Göteborg Marvels in the Swedish Superserien where he finished as the fourth leading receiver in Sweden with 550 yards receiving, despite not having a true starting quarterback all season. He had originally signed with the Thonon Black Panthers in France but left after a contract dispute with the club. He spent the 2017 season playing with the Swedish champion Carlstad Crusaders where he helped the team win its eighth consecutive Swedish championship, scoring two touchdowns in the title game. As a two-year starter at Liberty (NCAA Div. I, FCS) he earned All Big South honors in 2016. Over the course of his three seasons, he recorded 100 tackles and in his first year, 2014, he had over 400 yards in kickoff returns.

Read more on Alpha Jalloh’s football journey:

Alex is a former NCAA and semi-pro American football player who is now located in London, where he works in digital marketing. His goal in writing for AFI is to stay involved with the game that has given him so much. Alex enjoys covering leagues and