Kicking age aside: the grandmothers chasing the World Cup dream
Maiani Grannies Football Club, a group of Makueni grandmothers who play football to keep fit, after a match at Maiani Boys High School in Makueni County on June 1, 2026.
What you need to know:
- Makueni grandmothers are transforming improvised football matches into a movement promoting fitness, empowerment, community leadership and international sporting ambition.
- From homemade balls to regional victories, they are redefining ageing through football, activism, health awareness and friendship.
At first, they did not even have a ball. Five women stuffed old plastic bags and newspapers, wrapped the bundle with string, and kicked off what would become one of Kenya's most unlikely sports stories.
That was a year ago. Today, Maiani Grannies Football Club, 56 grandmothers from the rolling hills of Kiu in Makueni County where days start with hours of mist that reluctantly give way to sunshine, has beaten Uganda, toured Machakos and Nakuru, and set its eyes squarely on the World Cup.
"We have set our eyes on the World Cup," Juliana Mulandi, the chairperson of the group, tells the Nation on the sidelines of a football match at Maiani Boys High School in Makueni County. The grandmothers have begun applying for birth certificates and passports in anticipation of overseas trips, as advised by Juliana, a retired Teachers Service Commission official.
The confidence behind that declaration has grown steadily over the club's first year, shaped by weekly practice sessions and friendly matches. It has since grown from a community fitness initiative into a regional sensation and a source of national pride. A friendly match in Uganda was the highlight of that exposure. Maiani Grannies Football Club contributed six players to a Kenyan team of grandmothers that floored Uganda's grannies in a showdown staged at Entebbe on December 11, 2025, to crown a regional summit on women in sports.
"Beating the Ugandan team was surreal. We proudly flew the Kenyan flag in the streets of Entebbe," Mukaa Chief Phyllis Kiema tells the Nation. The goalkeeper in the grandmothers' football team was part of the side that played in Uganda. The victory was all the grandmothers needed to be convinced they were sitting on big potential.
Maiani Grannies Football Club has since staged spectacular shows in Machakos and Nakuru towns, challenging the supremacy of older football clubs. The outings have shone a spotlight on the group, which draws members from a quiet farming community in Kilome Constituency.
It brings together grandmothers aged 50 and above. A TV story inspired the idea. Some of the members had concurrently watched a news item featuring Mutei Grannies Football Club, a group of grandmothers drawn from Elgeyo Marakwet and Uasin Gishu counties, who flew the East African flag during the 2025 Grannies International Football Tournament in South Africa.
When some of the grandmothers met over tea at Salama Township the following day, the pomp surrounding the jetting back of the Mutei Grannies FC members dominated their talks.
"We kept thinking, 'here are our age mates who have decided to bring honour to their country while keeping fit'. We decided to follow their footsteps," Juliana recalls. The football club started that same week.
To start themselves off, a team of five women improvised a football by stuffing old plastic bags and newspapers, wrapping it methodically with string to secure the shape. The group initially used a corner of Juliana's compound to play, jog and compete in short races. The Maiani Boys High School administration gladly accepted when the grandmothers, through the local chief, requested to use the school football pitch for weekly practice. Well-wishers have since donated balls and sets of sporting kits.
A football match on Mondays and Thursdays starts with Maiani Grannies Football Club members catching up, praying and engaging in intense physical exercise. Spectators who come to the pitch expecting hard tackles, swift passes and long kicks leave a disappointed lot.
Maiani Grannies Football Club, a group of grandmothers in Makueni County who play football to keep fit, exercise after a football match at Maiani Boys High School in Makueni County on June 1, 2026.
Joshua Wambua, a coach who has volunteered to help the grandmothers hone their football skills, has come to their defence when some spectators accuse them of being clumsy. He has noted significant transformation among the budding footballers.
"A year ago, none of our players understood the basic technical aspects of football. They were also weak. Today, we are glad most of the players have since gained enough stamina to kick the ball," says Wambua.
The grandmothers insist they play football primarily to remain physically fit and maintain mental alertness.
"When we started playing football, some of us were either limping or walking slowly. We were taking assorted medication for easing age-related ailments such as arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure. This has since become a thing of the past. We advise old women across the country to engage in sports because sports is medicinal," says Juliana.
"We are no longer a burden to our children," adds Beatrice Sisi, one of the players. "We have discovered a cost-effective method of keeping healthy."
The 63-year-old has turned the football group into a platform to showcase her comic side. Whenever an opportunity presents itself, she develops skits as an irresponsible drunkard "to draw the attention of the world to the challenges women undergo at the homesteads in the wake of alcoholism and economic challenges."
The testimonies lend credence to scientific studies linking regular exercise with good health. Ambrose Kisoi, the director of Sports in Makueni County, says the recreational value of the grandmothers' football matches starts with their coming together. "Stress levels reduce significantly when players come together and engage in conversations," he tells the Nation.
Jennifer Mutuku (left) goes for the ball as Penninah Wambua (centre) and Lena Ndava follow during a football match at Maiani Boys High School in Makueni County on June 1, 2026. They are members of Maiani Grannies Football Club, a group of grandmothers who play football to keep fit.
Medics recommend physical exercise in addressing non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure, linking them to poor diets and sedentary lifestyles.
"When we are inactive, we tend to put on a lot of weight, which predisposes us to high blood pressure and the diabetes caused by insulin resistance. As people grow older, there is an increased risk for lifestyle diseases. For the elderly, the elasticity of their blood vessels is compromised, and this predisposes them to high blood pressure," says Dr Musyoki Kibwana, the medical officer of health for Kibwezi West Sub-county in Makueni County.
"When people are advancing in age, it is more recommended that they find an exercise they can tolerate a brisk walk for around 30 minutes daily, swimming, or a football match where they run around the field and kick the ball. Such exercise will significantly reduce the increase in their high blood pressure and reduce the cost of healthcare," he adds.
Phyllis, the local chief, is perhaps the biggest beneficiary of Maiani Grannies Football Club. The administrator dedicates Monday mornings to the football match and, beyond keeping fit, uses the group to gather intelligence, promote government policy, tame alcoholism and fight sexual offences and gender-based violence.
"Mingling with fellow grandmothers has made my work easy. When we are pushing for 100 per cent transition from primary to secondary school, for instance, tips flow easily on the parents who have not complied with the government directive. In some cases, we swing into action after the grandmothers discreetly report their daughters-in-law for failing to enrol their children in secondary school," she says.
The administrator uses her proximity to the football grandmothers to advise the community on measures to address gender-based violence such as wife battering and disinheritance of property, and the footballers are among the foot soldiers she has enlisted in that effort. She also uses the football club to promote Social Health Authority uptake in the region. According to her, seven out of every 10 households in the Maiani Grannies Football Club catchment are registered under the healthcare scheme.
"We are looking forward to organising a countywide tournament of grannies in football," she says. For a group that started with a ball made of plastic bags, that prospect seems entirely within reach.
