Marked for Samuel Semo
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Oct 2027
Eric Omondi in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AFC Leopards this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Humphrey Katasi falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kennedy Odhiambo is on it.
Market11 Oct 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Samuel Ssenyonjo signs something — a contract at AFC Leopards or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad11 Oct 2027
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at AFC Leopards that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
Market11 Oct 2027
24 months and counting on Brian Omondi
Still no offer on the table, and Brian Omondi’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AFC Leopards, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market11 Oct 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Peter Maker may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Vincent Mahiga is not doing himself any favours
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market4 Oct 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at AFC Leopards, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market4 Oct 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AFC Leopards they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” George Odhiambo and AFC Leopards agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Eric Omondi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Kaycie Odhiambo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
Wages eat 89% of everything AFC Leopards earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Julius Masaba makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Market4 Oct 2027
Brian Wanyama is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at AFC Leopards has been clear about where Brian Wanyama stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and George Odhiambo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad4 Oct 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad4 Oct 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bidco United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and John Otieno was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to John Otieno, and the manager let it.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
Wages eat 93% of everything Bidco United earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Samuel Semo makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Market4 Oct 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Monwabisi Mwondla has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Bidco United.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Christopher Raila is on it.
Market4 Oct 2027
The name of Lebohang Lesako keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Bidco United say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Apr 2027
A fracture rules Sthembiso Hlophe out for 114 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bidco United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Henry Atola and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lebohang Lesako was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match10 Apr 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Victor Mukangula to a room that had heard them before.
Boardroom12 Apr 2027
85% of the income goes out in wages at Bidco United
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Market12 Apr 2027
Simon Munala is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Bidco United has been clear about where Simon Munala stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Dalphine Omuri knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dalphine Omuri trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Feb 2027
0‑3 to KCB, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market22 Feb 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Bidco United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Henry Atola and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Tshepiso Mahlangu falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
Nobody left the Bidco United dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Samuel Semo gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 11. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Match9 Sep 2026
A 1‑1 win over Ulinzi Stars, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match12 Sep 2026
After 9 games, AFC Leopards finally taste it again
The first defeat in 9 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Tusker; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Eric Omondi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
AFC Leopards asked and Nairobi United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at AFC Leopards training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kaycie Odhiambo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match12 Sep 2026
1‑2 to Tusker, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Boniface Munyendo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.44. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Match9 Sep 2026
Level with 124 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon AFC Leopards had all but put away. Ulinzi Stars will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match5 Sep 2026
7‑1, and Samuel Ssenyonjo took the headlines on an afternoon when everything AFC Leopards tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.49 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The match ball belongs to Samuel Ssenyonjo, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 18 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at AFC Leopards until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Match5 Sep 2026
Whatever happens, AFC Leopards do not lose
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Market7 Sep 2026
So close: Samuel Semo’s move dies late
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Bidco United moved on, Samuel Semo reports back to AFC Leopards, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Eric Omondi in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AFC Leopards this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 10.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match5 Sep 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between AFC Leopards and Ulinzi Stars, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Sep 2026
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Bidco United scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Kenneth Onyango at 14 — 8.39
The hardest thing about being 14 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kenneth Onyango did not need any: 8.39, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Bidco United — 7.77
1 for Henry Atola, marked 7.77, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 13 in, 0 out at Bidco United
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 13 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Henry Atola and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match5 Sep 2026
6 matches without a win, and then this, against Posta Rangers. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Match5 Sep 2026
It finished 3‑2, and it was Kenneth Onyango’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Bidco United.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bandari have kept their man, and Bidco United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match29 Aug 2026
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market31 Aug 2026
Brian Okeyo hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bidco United can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The deal with Kenya Police is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
An offer of $190.0K for Samuel Semo
Bidco United have gone to AFC Leopards with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Henry Atola and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
No deal for Musa Oundo at that price
Bidco United offered $34.0K; AFC Leopards said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kakamega Homeboyz have kept their man, and Bidco United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Michael Wanjala falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Bayelsa United keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad10 Aug 2026
George Odhiambo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
$26.0K on the table at Nairobi United. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
AFC Leopards asked and Nairobi United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Kaycie Odhiambo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Jesse Onyango has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Martin Omurwa has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Caleb Mulee is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match1 Aug 2026
Mara Sugar will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. AFC Leopards were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.09 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Samuel Semo beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kennedy Odhiambo and AFC Leopards agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Kennedy Odhiambo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at AFC Leopards training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kaycie Odhiambo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Marked 8.03 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.