Marked for Hassan Beja
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Hassan Beja commits to AFC Leopards for another 5 years.
Squad14 Dec 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Peter Maker, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Sep 2026
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now AFC Leopards have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad28 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 AFC Leopards this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Samuel Ssenyonjo. 1‑0 against Nairobi United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Victor Omune 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.38 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad21 Sep 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.
Squad21 Sep 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.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
At 23 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Gédéon Muyadi’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to AFC Leopards.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 46. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match26 Aug 2026
The small margins put AFC Leopards out
Out, 0‑0 to Mathare United, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Market31 Aug 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 AFC Leopards, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 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 AFC Leopards this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Musa Oundo misses from twelve yards
It was his to settle and he did not settle it. A long walk back to the halfway line, and a considerably longer week.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Hassan Beja 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Kenya Police will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 52. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Kaycie 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.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
The crowd has taken to Hassan Beja
At 20 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Musa Oundo
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Marked 7.87. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Levis Esambe 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
Hassan Beja is the weekend's best young player
At 20 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
Market17 Aug 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Musa Oundo may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” James Kinyanjui commits to AFC Leopards for another 4 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
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.
Match1 Aug 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Boniface Munyendo’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to AFC Leopards.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Kaycie Odhiambo
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market3 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Kelly Madada again, and this time the name on the line is Muranga Seal. AFC Leopards are listening politely and promising nothing.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Marked 8.02 — 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Peter Maker 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 Peter Maker stands, which is more than many ever get.