by Baboucarr Camara
A 19-year-old Joe Sise made his debut for Halmstad BK in October 2008 against GIF Sundsvall in the Swedish Allsvenskan. He was expected to be the next big star in Swedish football.
He played for Sweden at U-21 level and became the target of several big clubs after his strong 2010 and 2011 seasons with great games for his boyhood club, scoring several decisive goals.
Joe became one of the biggest revelations in Swedish football and after shunning the opportunity to play for the Scorpions of The Gambia, with hope of representing Sweden at the time, he refused to extend his contract with Hamstad and instead joined FC Nordsjaelland of Denmark ahead of the 2012 season.
He signed a three-year contract, amidst pomp and fanfare, with the then Danish champions who decided to boost their strike force ahead of that season’s UEFA Champions League campaign. At the end of his contract in 2015, the striker left Farum Park Stadion without a single minute of competitive football due to series of injuries.
His last competitive game came in October 2011 when he played in a goalless stalemate with Kalmar in Hamlstad’s final game in the top flight before relegation to the Superettan. It was in that game that he first suffered the injury that had threatened his career in the subsequent four years.
The former AC Milan trialist recently returned to full training after several of hard work. Now 26, Sise, got a fresh start last week after returning to the city of Hamlstad, not with his boyhood club but with local rivals IS Halmia, who were last season relegated from the Division One Sodra and will begin the new campaign in the Swedish fourth tier. He signed a short-term contract until June with an option to extend.
“Joe Sise himself displays an incredible spirit and is determined to get back to the top of football, and we’re not talking in any of the top leagues in Sweden but internationally,” wrote Halmia’s Christoffer Andreasson on the club’s official website to announce his capture.
Joe Sise’s time in Denmark was a real nightmare. He pulled his tendon during his first practice with Nordsjaelland and then came all sorts of setbacks for the lad as if he were cursed. When his contract with the Danes ran out at the end of 2015, Sise was forced to dip into his pocket to take care of the medical expenses on his own in an attempt to return to the football field. The sacrifice, determination andhard work has paid off and the Swedish born Gambian is expected to play again in six weeks.
At Halmia, Sise is joined by 34-year-old veteran of Swedish football, Patrik Ingelsten, who also signed with the club as they attempt to make an immediate return to the third elite of Swedish football.
