Dominic Chatto

Dominic Chatto

Personal information
Full name	Dominic Chatto Bashir Jamilu
Date of birth	(1985-12-07) 7 December 1985 (age 38)
Place of birth	Kaduna, Nigeria
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Youth career
	Pepsi Football Academy
	Highlanders Football Academy
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
	Heartland FC
0000–2004	FC Sheraton
2004–2006	AS Racines
2007–2008	Inter Turku	47	(6)
2009–2013	Häcken	121	(1)
2014–2015	Bodø/Glimt	44	(3)
2016	Ordabasy	29	(0)
2017–2019	Falkenberg	28	(1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Dominic Chatto Bashir Jamilu (born 7 December 1985) is a retired Nigerian football midfielder. He has played three times in Nigerian youth teams.

Club career

Chatto was born in Kaduna, Nigeria.

Chatto started playing football in the age of six. He developed into one of the most talented players of his region and was always chosen to lead his team as a captain. Chatto learned to play football in Pepsi Football Academy in Nigeria. Before moving to Nigerian Premier League and Heartland FC he trained also in Highlanders Football Academy. In the league he succeeded so well that, in 2005, he was given a tryout in Blackburn Rovers. Eventually, he did not get a work permit, because he had not played in 70 percent of national team matches. Despite this, Blackburn and Mark Hughes wanted to sign a contract and send Chatto to Cercle Brugge for a loan. Chatto refused to go to Brugge, because he would have had to wait three months to get a playing right for the Belgium league. After England, he visited Dynamo Kyiv and Brøndby IF, but did not get a contract offer. He chose to go back to Nigeria and wait for new offers from European clubs.

Inter Turku

His professional career in Europe started in 2007, when Finnish Veikkausliiga club FC Inter Turku signed him. In his first season, he was voted as the third-best player in the league and was called up to the Nigerian under-23 national team. After the season, he signed a new year-long contract with the Turku-based club. In the 2008 season, Chatto was linked with a move to Slovakian FC Senec, Serbian FK Partizan and Red Star Belgrade. The owner of FC Inter refused to sell without a large transfer fee and Chatto stayed in the club. ^[1] In the last match of the championship season Serie A club Atalanta B.C. was scouting Chatto. Some Russian league clubs were after him and also FC Inter offered him a new contract and was hoping to keep the player. After the season 2008, Chatto was voted for Veikkausliiga players' player of the season. ^[2]

BK Häcken

In November 2008, Chatto signed a three-year contract with just promoted Swedish club BK Häcken. ^[3] Häcken had to pay a transfer fee to AS Racine, which still owned his rights. The transfer negotiations started when former Finnish international Janne Saarinen contacted Chatto via Facebook. ^[4]

Chatto scored a goal against IF Elfsborg in a pre-season friendly. In an interview before the Swedish season, Chatto said that Häcken were hoping for a survival in the premier division, but he hoped that they could reach a top-five place. ^[5] And when the season was over, Chatto's wishes had come true, as Häcken finished in the fifth place in Allsvenskan

Ordabasy

In February 2016, Chatto signed a one-year contract with Kazakhstan Premier League side FC Ordabasy. ^[6]

Falkenberg

On 10 March 2017, Chatto signed a two-year contract with Superettan side Falkenberg. ^[7] On 19 December 2019, 34-year old Chatto announced his retirement. ^[8]

He was brought back to Falkenberg in June 2021 as a scout and possible coach. ^[9]

International career

He was called up for Nigerian squad for the Intercontinental Cup in Malaysia, but did not play in the team. ^[10] Chatto was near to playing in the Olympic tournament in Beijing, but would have missed about ten matches with Inter and did not make the trip.

Career statistics

As of match played 29 October 2016 ^{[11] [12]}

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National Cup		Continental		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
BK Häcken	2009	Allsvenskan	19	0	0	0	-		19	0
	2010		26	1	0	0	-		26	1
	2011		25	0	0	0	-		25	0
	2012		27	0	0	0	-		27	0
	2013		24	0	0	0	-		24	0
	Total		121	1	0	0	-	-	121	0
Bodø/Glimt	2014	Tippeligaen	25	2	1	0	-		26	2
	2015		19	1	2	0	-		21	1
	Total		44	3	3	0	-	-	47	3
Ordabasy	2016	Kazakhstan Premier League	29	0	1	0	2	0	32	0
Falkenbergs	2017	Superettan	25	1	1	1	-		26	2
	2018		0	0	0	0	-		0	0
	Total		25	1	1	1	-	-	26	2
Career total			219	5	5	1	2	0	226	6

Honors

Club

Inter Turku

• • Veikkausliiga (1): 2008
  • Finnish League Cup (1): 2008

Individual

• Veikkausliiga Player of the Year: 2008 ^[13]

References

1. "Etusivu - Turun Sanomat". Turunsanomat.fi. 18 November 2015. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
2. "Veikkausliiga | Veikkausliigan parhaat kaudella 2008 nimetty". www.veikkausliiga.com. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 10 July 2012. Retrieved 6 December 2008.
4. "Dominic Chatto | Football in Finland". Footballinfinland.wordpress.com. 3 December 2008. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
5. "Chatto siktar högt med Häcken - Sportnytt | SVT.se". svt.se. Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
6. "Ордабасы подписал Чатто и Юнузовича". fcordabasy.kz (in Russian). FC Ordabasy. 26 February 2016. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
7. "Dominic Chatto till Falkenbergs FF". falkenbergsff.se (in Swedish). Falkenbergs FF. 10 March 2017. Archived from the original on 13 March 2017. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
8. Dominic Chatto avslutar spelarkarriären, hn.se, 19 December 2019
9. "Officiellt: Dominic Chatto får roll i Falkenbergs FF" (in Swedish). Fotbolltransfers. 16 June 2021. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
10. ^[ dead link ]
11. "Dominic Chatto". altomfotball.no (in Norwegian). TV 2 (Norway). Archived from the original on 27 October 2014. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
12. "D.Chatto". soccerway.com. Soccerway. Archived from the original on 30 April 2016. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
13. Veikkausliigan parhaat kaudella 2008 nimetty (in Finnish)

External links

• Profile at glimt.no
• Profile at BK Häcken
• Stats on Veikkausliiga.com
• DailySun: Nigerian player on rampage in Finland
• Pointer: Dominic Chatto
• Video interview in InterView.fi
• Dominic Chatto at the Swedish Football Association (in Swedish) (archived) (archive)