Premier League-bound: How it all started for Migori Youth

The scoreboard read: Migori Youth 2, Equity FC 1. The table now reads: Migori Youth 80 points.

With that unassailable lead, one round of matches to the end of the season, Migori have secured the 2025/2026 National Super League (NSL) title and concomitantly earned the right to be promoted to the FKF Premier League.

They will become the second team after Shabana from South Nyanza to play in the top tier league.

For a team that started in 2007 with hand-me-down kits and a shared pitch with cows, their rise to the top is the stuff of Kenyan football folklore.
So how did it all start?

Club chairman Abdi Aziz Osman says he and a group of friends took control of Migori Youth in 2007, shortly after the post-election violence that hit the country.

Read: Enock Morrison: Ghanaian free agent who became the best player in Kenya’s Premier League

“The team used to be called Migori United and was started in 2003. After things calmed down in 2007, we asked ourselves what we could do to keep these youths busy and with a purpose. Why not engage them in football? We took over the club at that time and renamed it to Migori Youth Talent Academy (MYTA),” Aziz said.

The Migori-based businessman and community mobiliser adds that their mission was to keep boys off the streets and offer them platforms to showcase their football skills.

According to Aziz, they enlisted the team in the FKF’s Division Two immediately after they acquired it. But in the year 2018, Isebania FC, another team from Migori County that was taking part in the NSL, dropped out because of serious financial constraints.

Aziz and his friends then bought Isebania’s slot in the NSL, where they have been for the last eight seasons, including this one that has seen them secure promotion to the FKF-PL.

The Aziz group has been the main financiers of the club assisted by well-wishers. However, this season, they acquired a Sh6m one year sponsorship from betting firm MozzartBet.

Migori’s promotion to the FKF-PL cannot be complete without mentioning their coach Sammy Owano, whom Aziz says has worked hard to ensure they gained the promotion.

“Owano is a good coach. He brought self-belief into the team. He made players hungrier for success,” Aziz said.

Read: Sammy Omollo: Fire-fighter of local football, coaching his son amid grief

“His philosophy is simple: recruit locally, press high, trust youth. We stopped buying ‘big names’ from Nairobi. He told us to give him boys from Awendo, Rongo, Kehancha, Kisii, Nyamira and Isebania. These are boys who fought for the badge,” he added.

Migori have conceded just 28 goals in 37 games, the second best defensive record in the NSL after 3K FC. They have scored 56, the seconds highest in the league, also after 3k.

Migori’s attack has been led by their 19-year-old wonder kid Syphus Otieno,19, who has netted 20 goals, three less than the league’s leading scorer Mwangi of Fortune

“Coach Owano made players believe we are not a small team. He told them Premier League teams are not from heaven,” Aziz went on.

However, their turning point came mid this season following the acquisitions of new players.

“In January, we unveiled two centre backs, Vincent Wanga from MOFA and John Juma, formerly of Sam West Black Boots. The have been outstanding.” Said Aziz.

Incidentally, the two defenders scored a goal each in the win on Sunday.

Other key players are forwards Samuel Maiko, on loan from Shabana, and Mike Isabwa, formerly of Mara Sugar FC.

Fans have also played their part. Migori’s games at Awendo Stadium have been averaging around 1,000 entries and Aziz expects the turnout to increase next season.

Aziz says they plan to add five to six players and hit the Premier League running next season.

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