Marked for Shafic Ssebyala
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Kariobangi Sharks may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Sebastian Wekesa 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Kariobangi Sharks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimpol Omamo 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market2 Nov 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nairobi United can pretend not to have heard.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Enock Momanyi: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Nairobi United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
137% of the income goes out in wages at Nairobi 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nairobi United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market2 Nov 2026
12 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Lennox Ogutu 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
Ernest Mohammed is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Yusuf Mainge 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 Nairobi United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Nairobi United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kefa Nakhumicha 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Oct 2026
“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 Nairobi United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Nairobi United may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Yusuf Mainge 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
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kariobangi Sharks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Faiz Opande has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Ian Karani 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
The afternoon belonged to Faiz Opande
6.90, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Kariobangi Sharks had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Patillah Omoto has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Kariobangi Sharks will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Joseph Mwangi 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Kariobangi Sharks have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Wayne Mbuya 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
5 new faces, and Kariobangi Sharks are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Match15 Aug 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sebastian Wekesa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market17 Aug 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Kariobangi Sharks know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Off the bench and decisive: Victor Ngume
The substitution nobody applauded turned out to be the whole story. Kariobangi Sharks were going nowhere until he came on.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market3 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The offer from Ulinzi Stars for Brian Omondi was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Benson Omalla and Nairobi United agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad3 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nairobi United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Yusuf Mainge 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Benson Omalla is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Nairobi United has been clear about where Benson Omalla stands, which is more than many ever get.
Match1 Aug 2026
KCB left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
In brief
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Squad
Roy Okal gets it from the manager
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Player ratings
Roy Okal spends the afternoon fouling