Reviving Nyanza region's lost football glory

For decades, Nyanza region was the go-to zone in terms of football talent but things nosedived in recent times.

The region is home to some of Kenya’s traditional Kenyan Premier League and National Super League teams including Chemelil FC, Sony Sugar FC, Muhoroni Youth FC, Kisumu Posta, Kisumu Hot Stars, Kisumu All Stars, Western Stima, Shabana and Gusii.

However, some of them have gone under after the fall or financial constraints facing some of the companies and parastatals that used to support them.

Muhoroni Youth (Muhoroni Sugar), Chemelil (Chemelil Sugar), SoNy Sugar (Sony Sugar Company), Western Stima (Kenya Power) and Kisumu Telkom (Posta) are among the struggling or defunct teams.

But despite this decline, the region still boasts of representation in the top two leagues with Muhoroni Youth and Shabana featuring in the Premier League while Kisumu All Stars and Gusii are in the NSL.

The quartet gives the stakeholders the belief that the region is still the football hub of the country. And with a little more structured investment, the national teams would have little to worry about in terms of personnel.

Kisumu All Stars head coach Charles Bruno calls for the establishment of football academies with proper structures to facilitate the nurturing and development of players. Talent, Bruno says, should be scouted at the school level, especially during school games.

“We need to get players while they are still in school and have their proper data collected for gradual monitoring and development,” he says.

Bruno attended the Chapa Dimba, Talanta Hela and 2023 Cecafa Under-18 Championship where he identified two players to join his team.

“We are only waiting for the transfer window to open to get done with the deals,” he says.

Muhoroni Youth head coach Charles Odero calls for the revival of the many fallen clubs from the region, even though he acknowledged that financial challenges abound. Odero, who led a Nyanza Combined team to a 2-0 defeat to Gor Mahia in a friendly match during the Eliud Owalo Super Cup in Asembo, Siaya County, last month, says coaches should directly scout players from such tournaments.

Nyanza Combined featured players from Kisumu, Siaya, Homa Bay and Migori counties.

Odero also coached Kisumu Combined against Homa Bay Combined in the final of the Eliud Owalo Super Cup.

Homa Bay won the encounter 4-2 to take home Sh400,000 while Kisumu received Sh300,000.

Odero proposes yearly tournaments for Under 14, U17, U18 and U20 where coaches across the FKF ecosystem can scout for raw talent.

“We want more of these tournaments. These will provide coaches with better avenues to scout for players as opposed to conducting trials,” he says.

He regrets how many talented players fall by the wayside due to lack of opportunities, exposure and sponsorship.

“Tournaments like the Eliud Owalo Super Cup and Talanta Hela are very good since they expose talented players to various clubs,” he says.

Odero says he identified 10 players during the Talanta Hela, Cecafa Under-18 and Eliud Owalo Super Cup tournaments — five with Premier League credentials and five to feature in Division One.

Gor Mahia’s operations manager Jolawi Obondo says players who featured for Nyanza Combined showed how rich the region is in terms of unexposed talent.

“I had the opportunity to watch all the matches and these boys are on another level,” Obondo says.

Migori Youth FC head coach Kevin Oluoch adds: “The growth of Kenyan should start with coaches tapping young players, especially at the school level.”

Oluoch, who played for Gor Mahia and captained Sony Sugar FC during his heydays, calls for fairness in the selection of national team players and that coaches should be guided by professionalism, not acquaintance.

He also wants established players to keep the regional grassroots tournaments.

“We appreciate the initiative to nurture talent but focus should be on players who are not attached to KPL or NSL clubs,” he says.

Migori-based sports analyst Allan Onyango says coaches and scouts should be allowed to work independently if the country is to reach the desired heights in regional, continental and world football.

He says favouritism, corruption and personal interests among coaches and club owners are the country’s major footballing bottleneck.

“This is killing football. They turn away talented players due to selfish interests,” Onyango says.

The culture of ‘who do you know’ should be eradicated to restore confidence in the game, he adds.

In addition, Onyango advocates for academic sponsorships for talented players.

David Bondo, a sports commentator, says lack of professionalism in football management is killing the football.

At the club level, players are paid late while at the national teams, there exist revolving doors for coaches.

“Coaches are coming and leaving due to consistent interference from the club owners and managers as well as the federation,” Bondo alleges.

Besides interference, he said coaches and club managers are not recruiting quality players.

“The recruitment fails to meet the standards as local clubs enlist wanting players unlike teams from the region including Tanzanian duo of Simba and Azam,” Bondo says.

He advised coaches to emulate former Harambee Stars coach, the late Reinhard Fabisch, who scouted for players in the grassroots during his reign.

Fabisch, arguably Kenya’s most successful foreign coach, recruited quality players such as Tilen Oguta, John ‘Barizi’ Odhiambo, Mike Okoth and Bonaventure Maruti among others.

“Today, players in Nairobi-based teams feed the national teams while disregarding talented players outside of the capital,” Bondo says.

To restore the Nyanza region’s lost glory, Bondo says county governments from the region should invest in local clubs.

Additionally, Kisumu All Stars chief executive officer Ben Basole claims selection is the country’s major hindrance to the growth of the game.

“Some top officials at Football Kenya Federation own clubs and, therefore, campaign for their players to join national teams denying better players a chance to represent the country,” he alleges.