Bandari out to get more than league glory alone
Nzoia Sugar's Moses Mwale (left) vies for the ball with Bandari forward William Wadri during their Football Kenya Federation Premier League match at Mbaraki Sports Club in Mombasa on March 6, 2021.
What you need to know:
- Osero wants the team to play world class football, in line with their sponsors Kenya Ports Authority’s vision of giving world class services at the parastatal. Bandari need to win matches to publicise the brand.
- More importantly, we don’t want Bandari players to be village celebrities who believe that winning local matches against local clubs is all that they need. Instead, we are preparing the team to play on the international arena where the players can be scouted to play abroad and return home to invest.
Bandari Football Club are working on a project which, in the long-term, will see the team being set apart from the big boys of Kenyan football.
Very soon, Bandari’s main target will no longer be just battling for the top-tier league title. Bandari’s main target will be to produce more players for the international market.
The club’s vice chairman Bernard Osero said money is not the motivating factor, but talent development in line with international standards.
Bandari wants to have as many players as possible from the club in the national team even as it puts emphasis on quality rather than quantity.
Footballers have a very short time span in active sport. In most Third World countries, at 30-years-old, a player’s career is always as good as done
That time frame can be even much shorter in countries where sport does not pay like in Kenya. That is why it is important to focus on moulding players for the international arena and using the youth academy as a feeder for the senior team.
Build more squads
To make this work, Bandari plan to build four different squads that can represent the club in various competitions and produce results.
We want to have a reservoir of professionals with up to six skilled players in all positions from the goalkeepers to strikers - a move that will help enhance professionalism and improve standards in the team to the next level.
Bandari’s board of trustees have introduced regular motivational talks for the team. This is already producing results which can be seen in the team’s improved performance.
Osero wants the team to play world class football, in line with their sponsors Kenya Ports Authority’s vision of giving world class services at the parastatal. Bandari need to win matches to publicise the brand.
More importantly, we don’t want Bandari players to be village celebrities who believe that winning local matches against local clubs is all that they need.
Instead, we are preparing the team to play on the international arena where the players can be scouted to play abroad and return home to invest.
