13 Oct 2026
Tuesday
Process
11 Edition

The Sofapaka Gazette

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

David Nshimirimana 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 Sofapaka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Brian Chonjo Otieno 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.

Squad

David Nshimirimana knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sofapaka, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

Back issues
10 Edition

The Sofapaka Gazette

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Tempers go at Sofapaka

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.

Squad

Words at Sofapaka training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Clifton Miheso 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.

Boardroom

157% 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.

In brief

9 Edition

The Sofapaka Gazette

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to Sofapaka's wait for a win

7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sofapaka has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

John Ndirangu: 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.” Sofapaka have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

David Nshimirimana 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 Sofapaka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

A bad afternoon for Sofapaka against Kenya Police

0‑1 to Kenya Police, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

The manager makes an example of David King'atua

“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 ratings

Nobody could get near Clifton Miheso

Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

In brief

8 Edition

The Sofapaka Gazette

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

A brace, and Clifton Miheso takes the afternoon — 8.57

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Clifton Miheso provided it, and the 8.57 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Match

6 matches without a win for Sofapaka

The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Sofapaka are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Tempers go at Sofapaka

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.

Squad

Words at Sofapaka training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tshidiso Monamodi 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.

Squad

Tshidiso Monamodi 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.

Match

Clifton Miheso rescues a point for Sofapaka

It needed Clifton Miheso to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Muranga Seal, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.

Player ratings

Eugene Wethuli leaves them behind him

Shots: 8. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.

Squad

The division's best last weekend was a Sofapaka man

It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Clifton Miheso was the best thing in any of them.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Tshidiso Monamodi

Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

In brief

7 Edition

The Sofapaka Gazette

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to Sofapaka's wait for a win

5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sofapaka has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

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.

Match

Sofapaka come up short against Bidco United

Bidco United left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad

No hiding place for Titus Achesa

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Titus Achesa, and the manager let it.

Player ratings

Eugene Wethuli could have had three

7 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.

Squad

Levian Ochieng 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.

Squad

David King'atua 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 David King'atua trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Market

Still no ink between Sofapaka and Victor Ochieng

“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sofapaka, another week without a signature from Victor Ochieng.

Player ratings

A day to forget for Douglas Ochoko

Marked 5.49, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.

In brief

6 Edition

The Sofapaka Gazette

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Elijah Mulinya puts it in writing

“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 Sofapaka, and it is not being withdrawn.

The terraces

Supporters turn on the $72.0K sale of Brian Marani

He is going to Kariobangi Sharks, the club has $72.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.

Match

4 matches without a win for Sofapaka

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Sofapaka are no longer polite ones.

Market

Wasi Ngala’s move to Mathare United falls through

The deal that would have taken Wasi Ngala to Mathare 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.

Market

Brian Marani moves on

Kariobangi Sharks pay $72.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.

Market

Sofapaka sell Nelson Likhanga for $48.0K

Nelson Likhanga has left for APS Bomet in a $48.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.

Squad

Words at Sofapaka training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Clifton Miheso 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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Sofapaka against Kariobangi Sharks

0‑2 to Kariobangi Sharks, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

Eugene Wethuli 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.

In brief

5 Edition

The Sofapaka Gazette

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Victor Augo is the hero from the spot

A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Victor Augo: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.

Match

The small margins put Sofapaka out

Out, 0‑0 to AFC Leopards, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.

Market

Levis Ochieng asks to leave Sofapaka

“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.

The terraces

The ground has had enough

“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 10 of the 31 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.

Market

Sofapaka sign Brian Chonjo Otieno for $80.0K

The paperwork is done: Brian Chonjo Otieno joins from Kenya Police in a deal worth $80.0K. Now comes the harder part.

Squad

David Nshimirimana 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 Sofapaka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The terraces

Sofapaka 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 Brian Chonjo Otieno, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.

Match

Mara Sugar take the points off Sofapaka

Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Tshidiso Monamodi 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.

In brief

4 Edition

The Sofapaka Gazette

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Sofapaka through in the cup

A 2‑1 win over Posta Rangers, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.

Match

Sofapaka win it in stoppage time

The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 109th minute. Posta Rangers will replay every second of the added time for a week.

Market

Levian Ochieng asks to leave Sofapaka

“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.

Market

Sofapaka say no — this time

The offer from Muranga Seal for Wasi Ngala 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Sofapaka

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 ratings

Nobody could get near Japheth Lihanda

Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Words at Sofapaka training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Clifton Miheso 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.

Squad

No hiding place for Brian Olang'o

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Brian Olang'o, and the manager let it.

Player ratings

One of those days for Sebastian Ikekhai

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.38, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

In brief

3 Edition

The Sofapaka Gazette

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Afrique Foot Elite come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Sofapaka did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

David Nshimirimana 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 Sofapaka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

No hiding place for David Nshimirimana

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to David Nshimirimana, and the manager let it.

Match

Sofapaka come up short against Shabana

Shabana left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad

Felix Mulyungi 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.

Squad

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.

Market

Levis Ochieng placed on the list

Sofapaka have made Levis Ochieng available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.

Player ratings

Clifton Miheso runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Player ratings

A day to forget for Douglas Ochoko

Marked 5.50, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.

In brief

2 Edition

The Sofapaka Gazette

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Age has not caught Clifton Miheso yet — 8.33

At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.33 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Market

Sofapaka turn down Etoiles du Mande for Felix Mulyungi

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

David Nshimirimana 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 Sofapaka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Clifton Miheso sends Sofapaka past Gor Mahia

It finished 1‑0, and it was Clifton Miheso’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Sofapaka.

Squad

No hiding place for David King'atua

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to David King'atua, and the manager let it.

Market

Eyes on Aron Kithae again

The phone has started ringing about Aron Kithae again, and this time the name on the line is Mara Sugar. Sofapaka are listening politely and promising nothing.

Squad

This league is too small for Tshidiso Monamodi

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. Sofapaka will not keep him by pretending otherwise.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Tshidiso Monamodi

Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

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.

In brief

1 Edition

The Sofapaka Gazette

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

The ground has had enough

“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 7 of the 33 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.

Squad

David Nshimirimana stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” David Nshimirimana and Sofapaka agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Tempers go at Sofapaka

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.

Squad

Words at Sofapaka training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Clifton Miheso 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.

Match

Bandari take the points off Sofapaka

Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Clifton Miheso 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.

Market

Talks stall between Sofapaka and David King'atua

“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.

Market

No place for Levian Ochieng in the plan

“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Levian Ochieng has his answer from Sofapaka; what he does with it is the next window’s story.

Market

49 months and counting on Douglas Ochoko

Still no offer on the table, and Douglas Ochoko’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.

In brief