Frenchman Julien Mette’s reign as Tusker FC’s coach began with a disappointing 1-0 away loss to Shabana FC in a Football Kenya Federation Premier League (FKF-PL) match on February 21, 2026.
But four months later, the 44-year-old tactician is celebrating a major milestone in his coaching career after guiding Tusker to this season’s FKF Cup glory, ending the brewers’ 10-year wait to lift the trophy again.
On Sunday, Tusker defeated Kenya Police FC 2-1 in the final of this season’s FKF Cup held at Kwale Stadium in Kwale County.
Forward Ian Simiyu emerged the hero as his first-half brace was enough to secure the title for the brewers. Police scored through captain Abud Omar.
Apart from clinching the ticket to represent Kenya at next season’s CAF Confederation Cup, Tusker extended their success in the competition to five titles.
Their previous triumphs came in 1975, 1989, 1993 and 2016. Victory also earned Tusker Sh3 million in prize money.
Coach Mette could not hide his joy for guiding Tusker to the important victory, describing the triumph as a fitting rewards for the effort they have been putting in place towards changing the team’s fortunes.
Since his focus is on next season’s FKF-Premier League, Mette said he has been using the matches to lay the foundation for the project to change the team’s performance. He said the process of assessing the players, rotating the squad and also deploying some to unfamiliar position contributed to a number of disappointing results along the way.
Tusker players celebrate after beating Kenya Police 2-1 in the Mozzart Bet Cup final at Kwale Stadium in Kwale County on June 14, 2026.
Photo credit: Kevin Odit | Nation Media Group
“It saved the season (SportPesa League) because finishing ninth for Tusker was horrible,” said Mette.
“The club brought me here to prepare for next season. All these months we have been experiencing. It was hard for me because I didn’t know the players except for a few. I lost time to discover the players tactically and socially. We have lost games because of this but now at the end we have the reward (FKF Cup),” he added.
After the loss against Shabana, Mette revealed that he had shifted his focus to the FKF Cup since their chances of clinching the league were slim as they trailed leaders Gor by many points.
In achieving that target, the coach said they had studied Police with their game plan working to perfection. He noted that they limited the movement of Police’s wingers and worked on defending the set pieces better.
“They are very good defensively. We have worked on how to imbalance them and the plan was to attract them with short passes and also put their wingers very low to create space,” said the coach.
“Their center backs are not so fast that is how we scored the two goals. We have not been good in set pieces because of poor man marking. We worked on that.”
Against the run of play, Simiyu fired Tusker ahead in the 24th minute with a powerful low shot from a counter attack.
Tusker’s lead, however, was short-lived as Police’s captain Abud Omar levelled for the 2024 champions with a stunning free-kick in the 26th minute.
Striker Yves Koutima is the Police’s player who had been fouled near the box, resulting to the free-kick which Omar made the most of with beautiful curve.
Simiyu restored Tusker’s lead in the 37th minute with another low strike, this time Yakeen Mutehel providing the assist.
The loss denied Police’s coach Nicholas Muyoti’s a chance to win a rare back-to-back FKF Cup titles with different clubs.
Last season, the former Kenya international won the trophy with Nairobi United. Police pocketed Sh2 million for finishing second.
Earlier at the same venue, Bandari FC sealed the third-place with a 2-0 win over KCB. Bandari pocketed Sh1.5 million while KCB received Sh1 million.
