Year in review: Western Stima keeps producing

Douglas Costa, Alex Teixeira, Willian, Luiz Adriano, Fernandinho are some of the star players ruling the world of football for their respective clubs.

One thing they have in common is they all come from Brazil and they were scouted by the Ukranian giants Sharkhtar Donetsk.

A few weeks ago Real Madrid were almost knocked out of the champions league and they had to fight so hard to beat Borrusia Monchegladbach for them to qualify for the round of 16, the main problem came when they lost home and away to Shakhtar Donetsks and where seriously tormented by Tete’s Performance another rising star who was scouted from Gremio.

Famous for their superb scouting network in Brazil, Shakhtar’s squad has been based around Brazilian players for almost two decades. There are 13 Brazilians on the current roster.

Western Stima is the Kenyan Premier League’s version of Shakhtar, known for proper scouting and most of the star players end up playing for the top clubs and especially Gor Mahia FC.

After winning the 2016 Kenyan premier league most valuable player Kenneth Muguna, first joined Gor Mahia from Western Stima in 2017 and played a crucial role as he helped Gor reclaim the league title from Tusker FC that year, scoring three league goals in the process.

Gor raid didn’t stop there in 2017 K’Ogalo they raided Stima again and signed Joash Onyango who went on to help them win back-to-back KPL titles and helping them in continental assignments.

He was part of the team that qualified for the Caf Confederation Cup quarter-finals in the 2018/19 season

Laban Jobita is the club chairman and he tells us the secret behind their proper scouting.

“We have never panicked when our top players leave for the top clubs. In fact we feel proud of our achievement for finding the right player for the club and country ,our rule is very simple we are tough with the local teams and schools across the western region.

Our scouts will be found in school games and local tournaments and when the spot a good player we call then for trials and if they impress we sign them and that’s how we have manage to produce top talent year in year out, ”Said the chairman

In June this year Kenya Power Company terminated its sponsorship to the Kenyan Premier League side with National Super League sides Coast Stima and Nairobi Stima also affected.

The League transfer was on a few weeks later and once again Gor raided their opponents with the likes of rising star Benson Omalla defender Kennedy Owino ,Midfielder Sydney Ochieng, , and goalkeeper Samuel Njau joining the champions .

Having lost 20 players to their rivals in the league they went on to sign 16 new players ahead of the new season they include Abdirahman Mango (APS Bomet), Ezekiel Wadanda (SS Assad), Laban Otieno (Kolwa United), Marvin Ayoro (Kisumu HotStars FC), Rodgers Ouma (Manyatta United), Steve Brian (Amani), Vincent Oluoch (Manyata Utd), Darryl Odhiambo (Tusker Youth), Spencer Obura (Kisumu Hotstars) .

The club chairman insists they will never abandon their club culture of signing the unknown and making them stars for the future.

“When the sponsor left we knew we are going to suffer in the market because we had no money to spend by keeping our stars, but one thing we knew we will not abandon our culture of signing the rising stars because we trust our scouts when it come to delivering top grass root talent and that is exactly what we have done,”added the Jobita .

Having scored nine goals for Stima who finished in seventh place last season Omalla a student at Kisumu Day thanked his former side for the opportunity granted to him and promised to deliver on his next assignment at Gor Mahia with the aim of emulationg his Idol Michael Olunga.

“I have followed his career and he is a good role model both in school and on the pitch, having received my first call up in the national team for the AFCON qualifier and representing the under 20 in Arusha I believe my career is in the right path and am destined for greatness because of the good support am getting for the my family, friend and the team,” Omalla told Citizen Digital.