Shabana pin hopes of revival on latest sponsorship deal

Shabana FC, one of Kenya’s most followed football clubs, are hoping their latest sponsorship deal will save them from their spectacular fall from grace and help push them back to their gloried days.

The Gusii-based club, once a football powerhouse and who enjoyed some of the fiercest rivalries with domestic football giants including record Kenyan Premier League (KPL) champions Gor Mahia FC, were relegated from the second-tier last season.

Teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, Shabana hardly climbed off the bottom of National Super League (NSL) after joining mid-way through it but Team Manager Andrew Kanuli believes they now have the resources to regroup and shoot back up.

During that season, they lost 30/38 league matches with many of those coming as a result of walkovers awarded to opponents for their failure to honour away matches.

“We are so grateful for our chairman Paul Mayieko who has really been fighting for the club and he is the reason why we have secured this deal. Now we’re heading somewhere,” Kanuli told Citizen Digital a week after they entered the partnership agreement with an Asian gaming firm.

Part of the agreement includes purchase of training equipment which will soon be delivered to their base.

“We are hoping to attract better players because they don’t have to fear for their financial securities. Football is employment and initially we’ve lost quality players to rival neighbouring clubs such as Sony Sugar and Muhoroni Youth,” Kanuli added.

Mayieko, who took over the reins from his processor Jared Nivaton when he was forced to resign alongside Secretary General Evans Kibagendi due to club wrangles, said more details of the agreement will soon be disclosed.