“I need some flowers,” Victor Wanyama posted on X on Valentine’s Day in 2012, and like many of his no-context social media posts, the former Harambee Stars captain left people wondering what and who the flowers were for.
It is not known whether Wanyama received some flowers on that day, but following the outpouring of appreciation, love, and praise he received on Saturday afternoon after he announced his retirement from football, it can be said that he finally got his flowers.
“Today, I step away from the game, but I leave knowing that I gave everything,” Wanyama said in his retirement announcement post.
PHOTO | GRAHAM STUART Celtic's Victor Wanyama celebrates scoring in a past match. Wanyama was on target for reigning Scottish champions Celtic as they beat Dundee 2-0 on September 22, 2012.
Wanyama gave the game over 40,000 minutes on the pitch in a career spanning 20 years and over 500 appearances for Harambee Stars and the 10 clubs he played for – JMJ Youth Academy, Nairobi City Stars, AFC Leopards, and Sweden’s Helsinborg in his formative years and, Beerschot (Belgium), Celtic (Scotland), Southampton (England), Tottenham Hotspur (England), CF Montreal (Canada), and Dunfermline Athletic (Scotland) in his senior career.
“Thank you for walking this journey with me,” Wanyama said at the end of the announcement video.
Yet, before the fame and fortune, before dancing a yard at home, before living in a Beerschot wonderland, before never walking alone with Celtic, before marching in with Southampton and Spurs, before the “Allez Allez” (“Go Go”) with Montreal, before going home with Dunfermline Athletic, before “Roho Juu ” with Harambee Stars, Wanyama’s football journey started in Nairobi’s Muthurwa neighbourhood with only his family cheering him on.
Victor Wanyama during CF Montreal's pre-season ahead of 2021 MLS season.
Photo credit: Pool |
Still, in that family, Wanyama also did some clapping for siblings who went on to achieve sporting success. The Wanyama name came with biographical notes written by baptismal wishes and DNA of the family’s patriarch and late matriarch.
Wanyama’s father, Noah, is also a former footballer who featured for AFC Leopards and Harambee Stars. His late mother, Mildred, played netball. Wanyama’s brother, FKF vice president McDonald Mariga, won the UEFA Champions League with Inter Milan. Thomas, another brother, played for Nairobi City Stars, Sofapaka, and Mathare United. Mercy, their sister, is a professional basketballer. Sylvester, their half-brother, is a former footballer known for his long spell with SonySugar FC.
The hard-knock life of Muthurwa dented Wanyama with courage, heart, and strength, but it was long after he left Nairobi’s concrete jungle that he became the “Lion of Muthurwa”.
Even with his elder brother Mariga holding his hand when he featured for the youth team of Mariga’s then club, Helsingborg, Wanyama’s first foray into European football was almost humbled to the point of falling by the wayside.
The lad from the equator encountered arctic weather, and on his first training session with Helsingborg, the freezing conditions sent him running back to the dressing room to the laughter of his coach, who told him to get used to it. Wanyama, then 16, got used to the cold by wearing a hat and two pairs of gloves – one was not enough to keep away the cold.
To stay warm, Wanyama, as he told The Athletic in a 2020 interview, never stopped running. “I felt cold when I stopped running,” he said.
That coping mechanism was not in vain as he joined Belgian club Beerschot in 2008 following a successful trial.
Kenya international midfielder Victor Wanyama.
Photo credit: Pool
Yet, adapting to European football meant transitioning from an attacking midfielder to a defensive midfielder. The flair and panache were no more, and Wanyama was now known for muscle and speed.
The flicks were replaced by tackles, including a bone-crunching one on Matias Suarez of Anderlecht in September 2009 that had him fined €100 (Sh15,000) and given a three-match suspension. However, his value appreciated, and after resisting approaches for Wanyama from Celtic and Russian club CSKA Moscow, Beerschot finally cashed in on Wanyama’s tenacity as he joined Celtic for £900,000 (Sh155 million) in 2011.
Wanyama arrived in Glasgow having read Celtic’s history. He wore jersey number 67 in honour of the Lisbon Lions, the nickname of the Celtic team that won the club’s only European Cup title in 1967. Wanyama wore that hooped jersey with pumped biceps and puffed chest and cheeks, scoring a memorable goal against Pep Guardiola’s and Lionel Messi’s Barcelona, and lifting three trophies, two league titles and a Scottish Cup.
In 2013, he left Celtic for Southampton in a Sh1.7 billion move, but trophies did not follow him. He spent seven years in England, three with Southampton, and four with Tottenham, before joining CF Montreal in 2020. After leaving Montreal in 2024, his career entered a period of limbo that was punctuated with a three-month contract with Dunfermline Athletic in 2025 when he reunited with his former coach at Celtic, Neil Lennon.
Victor Wanyama #2 of Montreal Impact reacts against Toronto FC during a Group C match as part of the MLS Is Back Tournament at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex on July 16, 2020 in Reunion, Florida.
Photo credit: Michael Reaves | AFP
Last year, in June, was also marked by a Harambee Stars testimonial that never was, after he pulled out with an injury from Benni McCarthy’s squad for friendly matches against Chad. Wanyama had retired from Harambee Stars four years earlier and had described his 14-year stint with the national team as “beyond what I ever thought possible.”
Somehow, Wanyama’s Harambee Stars’ career, which ended with 65 caps and eight goals, started with what was never thought possible – a debut against Nigeria’s Super Eagles at the 15.
In a similar manner, the next phase of his career also starts with a wait-and-see of what was never thought possible – Wanyama the coach.
He is due to complete studies for his UEFA ‘A’ Coaching License, and when he finally stands on the touchline for the first time, there will be many to walk that journey with him. In that journey, there will be coaches he played for, like Jose Mourinho, Mauricio Pochettino, Neil Lennon, Ronald Koeman, Thierry Henry, and of course, the dynastic Wanyama family.
