There is a lot that can make a football fan know that they are growing old. Seeing one’s childhood heroes on the touchlines is usually one such sign.
The current generation of FKF Premier League coaches is triggering that feeling. A good number of former Harambee Stars players are now top-flight coaches and it sort of all happened in the blink of an eye.
Fred Ambani, capped thrice for Harambee Stars, is no longer the lethal striker with a box haircut who was the league’s joint top scorer with 14 goals when he helped AFC Leopards win their last league title in 1998.
Now 47 years old, he has since transitioned to a white cap-wearing gaffer who stands on the touchline in his Sunday best, issuing instructions to AFC Leopards players as he attempts to end Ingwe’s league trophy drought.
From an A-class striker he is now one of 49 Kenyan coaches who have a CAF ‘A’ coaching license, Africa’s highest coaching qualification.
AFC Leopards coach Fred Ambani after winning the Coach of the Month (December) Sports Journalists Association of Kenya (SJAK) award on January 14.
Photo credit: Sila Kiplagat | Nation Media Group
Ambani, the son of a military officer, started his coaching career in the late 2000s soon after an injury ended his playing career.
“I broke my hand while playing for Chemelil Sugar. The surgery was not done correctly and that set back my recovery and my return to playing. I retired soon after that and ventured into business. I started a night club in Pipeline, Embakasi, but abandoned that venture when, through a contact of Boniface, I got an opportunity to coach Keroka Technical Training Institute,” Ambani said in a past interview with Nation Sport.
His coaching career also includes stints with Zoo FC, Nakumatt FC, and Wazito.
That elite cohort of 49 also includes another former Harambee Stars player, APS Bomet coach Sammy ‘Pamzo’ Omollo.
Omollo, born a day before the start of the 1970 Fifa World Cup, grew up in Parklands playing cricket with the world famous Park Road boys.
“I would have represented Kenya in cricket. I was mates with the Obuyas, the Odoyos, the Odumbes, the Sujis, and the Tikolos. I was as good as them, if not better,” Omollo said in a past conversation with the author.
However, his father’s baptismal wishes coerced him to a career in football. He went on to earn 57 caps for Harambee Stars while scoring two goals before stamping his reputation as a hard-tackling no-nonsense defender to his coaching philosophy.
Before he became Kenya’s answer to Sam Allardyce – a relegation survival specialist – Omollo achieved what Ambani hopes to attain with AFC Leopards this year; winning the league with the same club as a player and a coach.
In 2011, Omollo coached Tusker to a league title, adding to his triumph with them as a player in 1995 when they were known as Kenya Breweries.
He has also coached Kenya Police, Mahakama, Posta Rangers, and Shabana.
Current APS Bomet coach Sammy "Pamzo" Omollo during a past match.
Photo credit: Sila Kiplagat | Nation Media Group
Ulinzi Stars coach Stephen Ocholla, a 42-year old military officer who earned five caps for Harambee Stars, does not fly under the radar in this conversation.
During his playing days, Ocholla was an armband-wearing combative midfielder for Ulinzi Stars but studies for his CAF ‘A’ coaching license mellowed him to a soft-spoken tactician.
Still, his team plays with the same aggression and intent that classed him as one of the most reliable midfield enforcers during his playing days.
As far reminding millennials of their aging is concerned, record Kenyan top flight champions Gor Mahia went international with their effort. Their coach, the 50-year old Ghanaian Charles Akonnor, featured 51 times for the Black Stars, banging 13 goals.
Predictably, he also has a CAF ‘A’ coaching license, which has served during coaching stints with Ghana and a plethora of clubs in his homeland, including Asante Kotoko and Hearts of Oak.
Akonnor considered a career as a fashion designer before becoming a coach, he told Nation Sport in a past interview.
For Nicholas Muyoti, however, the transition to coaching came with a change of looks. The Muyoti of old had dreadlocks, a peripatetic football career, and 17 caps for Harambee Stars. Considered one of the best midfielders Kenya has ever produced, the Muyoti of now is 49 years old, almost clean shaven, has a CAF ‘B’ coaching license, and is a coaching nomad.
He now coaches Kenya Police, after head coach roles with Zetech University, Thika United, Nzoia Sugar, Kakamega Homeboyz, Nairobi City Stars, and Nairobi United.
Muyoti’s assistant, 51-year old John Baraza, is also a former international. Baraza’s playing career is a manual of how to score goals. He is a four-time Kenyan top flight golden boot winner and scored 21 goals in 52 appearances for Harambee Stars. Like Muyoti, he also has a CAF ‘B’ coaching license and a chain of former employers that comprise managerial stints with Bandari, Equity, Kakamega Homeboyz, and Sofapaka.
Kenya Police coach Nicholas Muyoti during FKF Premier League match.
Photo credit: Chris Omollo | Nation Media Group
Unlike Muyoti, Osborne Monday, also a former midfielder, transitioned to coaching without change in his appearance. He still has the goatee and the thick jazz dot. He still keeps a clean shaven head which he covers with a cap, a clothing accessory which when combined with the club tracksuit that he wears make him an ideal model for Murang’a Seal’s merchandise.
Born in 1985, Monday was capped 27 times for Harambee Stars. The former midfielder metronome is now revolutionizing Kenyan football with a CAF ‘B’ coaching license. His Murang’a Seal strings passes and keeps possession with such bewitching flow that they hold the record of the longest unbeaten run in the 2025/26 FKF Premier League season – 10 matches.
Typical of most Kenyan footballers, Monday also had itchy feet. He played for several clubs, including Sofapaka, who are now coached by the 49-year old Ezekiel Akwana. Akwana, renowned for his stints with AFC Leopards, Mathare United, and Oserian, featured five times for Harambee Stars. Like the Gidi Gidi Maji Maji hit, Akwana has been through many faces. He has had an afro, box haircut, cornrows, and dreadlocks, all with a toothy grin or a stern face. Nicknamed “Sacchi” after legendary Italian coach Arrigo Sacchi, Akwana has lived up to the sobriquet by studying his way to a CAF ‘B’ coaching license.
Akwana, Baraza, Monday, and Muyoti will make for a stellar class of CAF ‘A’ coaching license students. They will most likely be joined by current Bandari coach Bernard Mwalala, another former Harambee Stars player who has roamed the nook and cranny of Kenya coaching top flights teams in Bungoma, Kakamega, Kisii, Mombasa, Nairobi, and Nakuru. Such nomadism as a coach is not surprising. As a player, Mwalala traversed East Africa banging goals for clubs in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. In between, he boarded a plane to Malaysia to feature for PDRM FC. Mwalala, 41, played 13 times for Harambee Stars, scoring two goals.
Kariobangi Sharks Assistant coach Edward Seda in action during a past training session.
Photo credit: Chris Omollo | Nation Media Group
While one may struggle to remember seeing them in a Harambee Stars jersey noting how brief their national team careers were, the fledgling coaching careers of Edward Seda and Kenneth Wendo also signify the passage of time.
Seda, whose playing career was ended by injury, is Kariobangi Sharks’ assistant coach. The 33-year old, who featured as a midfielder for AFC Leopards, Kariobangi Sharks, and Mathare United, is one of three assistant coaches in the FKF Premier League that has a CAF ‘A’ coaching license. The others are Bidco United’s Bernard Kawinzi and Bismark Kobi-Mensah of Gor Mahia.
37-year old Wendo has a CAF ‘B’ coaching license. Like Seda, he also played for AFC Leopards and Mathare United. The former forward also had stints with KCB, Tusker, and Wazito.
Eventually, time will come when Seda and Wendo will pace the touchline with full authority and some aging Gen-Zs watching them from the stands will be soberly reminded that time is the only opponent that remains undefeated.
