Kenya’s vat potential in football – just as other sport disciplines such as cricket, hockey, boxing and netball– risks stagnation or outright ep decline unless deliberate efforts are made to develop the industry at the grassroots, a former Kenya international avers.

Retired right fullback Vincent Kwarula, a beneficiary of the defunct Dagoretti Youth Centre, regrets that regional and national governments are not investing in grassroots sports – an industry that commands billions – even trillions – of dollars in other parts of the world.

Kwarula, who currently lives in the United States where he is involved in coaching and mentorship, says sports is a critical pillar in economic development of countries like the United States, Britain and Canada, where talents are developed to compete at the highest level. The sector – other than athletics – is still virgin in Kenya with football, rugby, tennis, cricket and volleyball still amateur and miles away from matching the US, Europe or Asia.

In the US, the industry is worth trillions of dollars and accounts for more roughly 3 per cent of the American economy, according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS).

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the US sports industry can finance the budgets of all the eight members of East African Community bloc and still have a huge surplus.

According to latest CRS, “Sports in the United States generate significant revenues. For example, one source estimates the combined value of all franchises in the National Football League (NFL) at $163 billion in 2023, while also reporting that league revenue was $11.9 billion in 2022, a new high and a 7 per cent increase from 2021. That followed news that Major League Baseball (MLB) franchises also set a revenue record in 2022, earning $10.8 billion that year.”

It says research has mostly found that public funding for stadiums has minor economic impacts.

As the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis explained, the details provide “above generally do not materialise in real world examples. For example, any jobs created by a new or renovated stadium usually poach workers from other area businesses and do not result in a net increase in jobs. Further, many stadium jobs are low-paying and part-time.”

At present, Kenya is investing in basic infrastructure without corresponding investments in development and technological for skills expansion. More than three quarters football coaches have little more than rudimentary training in the sport, a situation that obtains in other disciplines in the industry.

Against this backdrop, Kwarula says, the potential for sports to contribute to Kenya’s economic prosperity has not been adequately exploited, with people charged with the responsibility either ignorant or poorly equipped to transform the industry or steal the funds meant for personnel and infrastructure development.

Kwarula avers that the world is yet to see the best of Kenya and the younger generation holds the key to the country’s football success given the vast but raw potential that can harnessed as an economic resource.

“Anyone doubting the credibility and potential of youth football needs to look only at the long list of players who passed through the National Youth Olympic Centres (NYOC) that mooted and run by the late German tactician Bernhard Zgoll in the 1970s and others. It was revived later and nurtured players – now retired – that include the late Oti “Father”, Meshack Asira (also diseased), Ricky Solomon, Sammy Nyongesa, (late) Noordine Taib,” says Kwarula.

Kwarula himself is a product of Dagoretti Youth Centre (DYC) before he blossomed into one of the most gifted fullbacks in eastern Africa.

For those who watched Kwarula play for Kenya Breweries (now called Tusker) FC and the national team Harambee Stars remember him as an earlier version of modern wingback or inverted fullbacks favoured by top teams in Europe like Manchester City, Arsenal, Barcelona and Bayern Munich. Like his contemporaries Wycliffe Anyangu and Mickey Weche of AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia’s Tobias Ocholla “Jua Kali”, Kwarula loved joining in attacks – sometimes scoring– and tracking back to defend.

Kiswahili radio and television commentators referred to such wingbacks as “beki wa kupanda na kushuka (roving fullbacks who overlap during attack and drop back to defence). In Kenya, where positional play was a football gospel, such defenders were a rare phenomenon.

The retired defender is among the most successful stars of the 1980s and 1990s and recalls how the national team always reached the finals of regional and continental tournaments, which in turn opened doors for the to pursue academic interests in good universities in the US. Among this crop were former Harambee Stars players Sammy Owino of Gor Mahia, Nahashon Oluoch “Lule”, Sammy Owino “Kempes”, Eric Ochieng Cantona, Johnstone Keffa Tasso, Bonventure Misiko and Bonventure Maruti.

“Days are gone when the national team had passionate fans, stadiums filled to capacity at all venues as top clubs AFC Leopards, Tusker and Gor Mahia alternated in winning Council of  East and Central  Football Associations (Cecafa) titles as Harambee Stars.

It was no accident that only Kenya national team used to qualify for African Cup of Nations to qualify more frequently than the other countries in East Africa.

“Days are gone when youth tournaments used to attract huge crowds, with matches pitting DYC against Kakamega United, Green Santos versus Kawangware FC pulling in huge crowds before the community playgrounds were grabbed and turned into private property.

“The centres that absorbed all talents from slums were spread across the country in major towns such as Kakamega, Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru and Embu, but once they were ignored, the supply of talent from the grassroots to the performance of our teams at the regional and continental championships went down,” Kwarula recalls.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Tell Media in Nairobi during Christmas and New Year holidays, the ex-international who also turned out for 12-time Kenyan Premier League champions, Tusker FC said Kenya has many talented young footballers but they need direction.

Aware of the economic, health, security and recreational potential of football – and sports in general – in Kenya, the retired footballer has dedicated time and resources to helping talented youth to develop careers in sports. The now US-based coach is the sponsor of young footballers attached to Young Peles FC in Nairobi and many other youth football clubs in Kakamega including Kwarula Sports Academy. This is courtesy of VIVE Create Future – a sports organisation based in New York that is helping young talents carve out a future in football and other sports.

When he visited Kenya in December 2025, Kwarula in partnership with VIVE Create Future donated foodstuff to over 200 families as young players competed in different categories.

Kwarula, who was in Tusker FC team that made history by securing qualification to the final of the 1994 African Cup Winners Cup expressed disappointment with Kenyan football for lack of structures to grow the sport.

“Football is not a priority because the country is steeped in politics, which has slowed down the pace of development and, of course, contributed to Kenya’s absence in the ongoing AFCON in Morocco.”

“The fact that we have scores of our former players overseas, it is a positive sign for our game. We simply have to develop it further for the game to take great strides just as it is in Tanzania and Uganda which are all in our zone.”

With emphasis on grassroots football, Kwarula who was also in Reinhardt Fabisch squad that narrowly missed out on 1998 Africa Cup of Nations and the World Cup qualification, says he believes that through the FIFA Goal Project grants, the creation of a national football academy will nurture the best young talents in Kenya.

It is on record that successive administrations have flattered to cheat with talk of centres of excellence, but nothing has been done to actualise it. Not even after a bill sponsored by Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi that provides for the government to establish centres of excellence was passed into law, there is still foot-dragging and deliberate recalcitrance in making sports a critical component of national and regional economies. 

In its assessment of evidence of contribution sports in US economy, CRS says: “Economists have studied the connection between sports and economic development for decades. Much of this work has examined whether public funding for new or renovated stadiums (either in the form of tax-exempt bonds or funds provided directly for the project) generate worthwhile returns on investment. One influential 1997 study from the Brookings Institution summarised the arguments usually made in favour of providing such financing: building or renovating a stadium will create construction, jobs, increased game attendance will generate new spending in the area, thus boosting local employment and wages; tourists (and companies) will be attracted by the new venue, bringing in out-of-town revenue and further adding to the local economy and the additional spending generated by the new or renovated stadium will have a multiplier effect, creating further spending and jobs

Kwarula, who holds a bachelors degree in business administration and masters in education, concurs with CFS report. He vouches for implementation of structures that will ensure talented players are given the right environment to blossom.

He plans to expand his academy project beyond Kakamega and Nairobi. He explains that VIVE Create Future academies in Kenya are long-term projects that place emphasis on education of the youths.

“The last thing we want is a situation where boys and girls who cannot advance academically are wholly dependent on football more than a situation where bright youngsters are dissuaded from developing in the sport. Now we have a sponsor for our academies in the form of uniforms, boots and other equipment that may look small, but it is hopefully only a start to help us improve our football from the grassroots as we look forward to give our youngsters the best.”

“During our time, we had several youth tournaments run by volunteers like veteran journalists Finny Muyeshi and Nicholas Musonye who helped us develop our talents. We’re grateful to them.

“I would simply like our boys and girls to enjoy all the benefits because football is a short career. They must try to make the best of it. During our time we only played for the badge and the love of the game, but today football is big business and players play for money too.

“We appreciate grassroots coaches who have done something for our young players and we encourage them to continue assisting them.”

“In truth, we need sponsorship everywhere, not just in the Kenyan Premier League, but in the Super League and other lower divisions and even women’s football.”

“There is one thing that can unite the country and that is the sheer love of the game.”

“We have the chance to start again, to go back to the drawing board and get our academies up and running.”

–           A Tell Media report / By John Ashihundu