Marked for William Gitama
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bandari lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Levis Opiyo breaks a bone — 101 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 101 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Levis Opiyo 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Oct 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 Mara Sugar can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Sid Ali Lakroum 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
William Gitama is the division's best young player this month
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Mara Sugar will try very hard not to make too much of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Sid Ali Lakroum, 39, rolls back the years — 8.25
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.25 at 39, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Alex Imbusia 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sid Ali Lakroum. 1‑0 against Gor Mahia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Aineah Ndete
“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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Michael Isabwa 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
Upbeat
Squad14 Sep 2026
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bandari lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Levis Opiyo out for 123 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bandari will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match9 Sep 2026
Bandari through in the cup
A 2‑1 win over AFC Leopards, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match9 Sep 2026
Rhulani Manzini wins it after the whistle should have gone
98 minutes played. Rhulani Manzini found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and AFC Leopards went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Match12 Sep 2026
Still nobody has beaten Bandari
The unbeaten run reaches 10. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Bandari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. William Wadri 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Amza Moubarack, and the manager let it.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Alfred Emoni at his very best
Marked 8.04. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Bandari.
Match12 Sep 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from William Gitama at 21 — 7.97
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. William Gitama did not need any: 7.97, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market14 Sep 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 Mara Sugar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Alex Imbusia 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 Mara Sugar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. William Gitama 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Paul Ochuoga
“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.
Match12 Sep 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
Squad14 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 ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 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 Mara Sugar can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 Sep 2026
The chase for Evans Mwirigi ended with $80.0K changing hands and APS Bomet out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Alex Imbusia 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 terraces7 Sep 2026
Mara Sugar spend $80.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $80.0K for Evans Mwirigi, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Alex Imbusia
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
This league is too small for Paul Ochuoga
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Mara Sugar will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
5 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Match5 Sep 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. APS Bomet came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The plan did not have a place for Ibrahim Ochieng
Nobody at Mara Sugar is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Evans Omondi Ouma: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match12 Aug 2026
Muranga Seal go through and Mara Sugar go home, 0‑0 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market17 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 Mara Sugar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Michael Isabwa, 33, rolls back the years — 7.95
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.95 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad17 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 Mara Sugar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 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 ratings17 Aug 2026
It was his to settle and he did not settle it. A long walk back to the halfway line, and a considerably longer week.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Dan Erez signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dan Erez and Mara Sugar agree another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match8 Aug 2026
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A brace, and Amza Moubarack takes the afternoon — 8.86
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Amza Moubarack provided it, and the 8.86 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Levis Opiyo 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 Bandari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Alfred Emoni 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rhulani Manzini, and the manager let it.
Squad10 Aug 2026
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Bandari will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Market10 Aug 2026
48 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Market10 Aug 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Bandari will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.