Marked for Eugene Wethuli
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Sofapaka
David Nshimirimana and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Clifton Miheso 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
139% of the income goes out in wages at Sofapaka
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nelson Likhanga and Sofapaka agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Levis Ochieng has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Brian Olang'o asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad21 Sep 2026
David Nshimirimana 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 7.54 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Sofapaka had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Elvis Ayumba chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Match19 Sep 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Muranga Seal came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 10 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market14 Sep 2026
The deal that would have taken Brian Marani to Nairobi United has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Sofapaka with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Clifton Miheso 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Eugene Wethuli’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Sofapaka.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
The clock did what Shabana would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Loan watch14 Sep 2026
“I watch every Sofapaka game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Muranga Seal runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.70 on the card, and the Sofapaka support went home talking about one name.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Brian Olang'o dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Aug 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Sofapaka have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Sofapaka
David Nshimirimana 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.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“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 ratings31 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.16 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Match29 Aug 2026
It needed Duncan Otieno to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Mara Sugar, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.