Samson Otieno
Samson Otieno receiving kit on behalf of Nairobi City Stars from FKF PResident Nick Mwendwa and Betika CEO John Mbatia

Betika hands BSL clubs playing kit

Nairobi City Stars and the other 18 teams taking part in the second tier National Super League all received two sets of uniform and as many footballs from leading betting firm Betika at Camp Toyoyo, Jericho on Monday 24 February 2020.

The function was graced by Betika Commercial Head John Mbatia and flanked by Football Kenya Federation (FKF) top brass led by President Nick Mwendwa, Vice President Doris Petra and CEO Barry Otieno.

While receiving the goodies from Betika, City Stars coordinator Samson Otieno said;

“We are happy recipients of the kit that we can not only use for game days but also for warm up and training,”

“We appreciate what Betika is doing to the teams in the second tier league as this follows on an earlier package of Kshs 750,000 to all teams,”

“We also acknowledge the fact that they have decided to top up on that initial token with a further Kshs 100,000. What they give to clubs may seem little to some but to us we understand that big things initially come in small packages.” he added

While Mbatia reiterated Betika’s commitment in their support at the NSL level and lower with their Betika na Community initiatives, Mwendwa once again appreciated their interest in local game as he confirmed FKF’s support in their quest to change the face of football.

The token of Kshs 100,000 per club added up to a collective total of Kshs 2 millions for all teams in the league which is not part of the Kshs 90 million deal over three years entered late last year.

Down to four points

Bidco United took full advantage of Nairobi City Stars inactivity at the weekend to close down the gap atop the National Super League (NSL) to four points after seeing off host Modern Coast Rangers 1-0 on Saturday at the Serani Sports ground, Mombasa.

The Mombasa win brought the Thika based Bidco United to the 51-point mark from 24 games and within sights of City Stars 55 points.

The Modern Coast Rangers – Bidco game was one of nine played at the weekend.

City Stars sat out the weekend as their planned opponents Northern Wanderers who were expelled from the league in early December 2019.

In notable results of the weekend, Nairobi Stima beat Mt. Kenya United 7-2 at Karuturi on Sunday to move into third above Vihiga United who were held to a 1-1 draw by host St. Joseph’s at Afraha Stadium on Saturday.

Kenya Police, City Stars opponents next wekeend, had a convincing 3-1 win over FC Talanta in Naivasha on Saturday.

Summary of round 25 results

Saturday 22 Feb 2020

Modern Coast Rangers 0-1 Bidco United (Serani Sports Club, 3 pm)

Kenya Police 3-1 FC Talanta (Karuturi Sports Ground, 1 pm)

St. Joseph’s Youth 1-1 Vihiga United (Afraha Stadium, 3 pm)

Administration Police 0-1 Vihiga Bullets (Camp Toyoyo, 3 pm)

Sunday 23 Feb 2020

Muranga Seal 1-1 Coast Stima (St. Sebastian Park, 3 pm)

Nairobi Stima 7-2 Mt. Kenya United (Karuturi Sports Ground, 3 pm)

Kibera Black Stars 3-2 Shabana (Camp Toyoyo, 3 pm)

Ushuru 1-2 Fortune Sacco (Camp Toyoyo, 1 pm)

Monday 24 Feb 2020

APS Bomet vs Migori Youth (Kericho Green Stadium, 3 pm)

BSL League resumes

The Betika Super League (BSL) will resume with eight games on the cards on the weekend of Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 February 2020 across various venues.

One more games between APS Bomet and Migori Youth at the Kericho Green Stadium will complete round 25 activities.

League leaders Nairobi City Stars will however not be active as the league is odd numbered following the expulsion of Northern Wanderers (formerly Eldoret Youth) in early December 2019.

Simba Wa Nairobi still holds on to a seven point buffer over second placed Bidco United after hitting the 55 point mark in round 23.

Round 25 Fixtures

Saturday 22 Feb 2020

Kenya Police vs FC Talanta (Karuturi Sports Ground, 1 pm)

Modern Coast Rangers vs Bidco United (Serani Sports Club, 3 pm)

St. Joseph’s Youth vs Vihiga United (Afraha Stadium, 3 pm)

Administration Police vs Vihiga Bullets (Camp Toyoyo, 3 pm)

Sunday 23 Feb 2020

Muranga Seal vs Coast Stima (St. Sebastian Park, 3 pm)

Nairobi Stima vs Mt. Kenya United (Karuturi Sports Ground, 3 pm)

Kibera Black Stars vs Shabana(Camp Toyoyo, 3 pm)

Ushuru vs Fortune Sacco (Camp Toyoyo, 1 pm)

Monday 24 Feb 2020

APS Bomet vs Migori Youth(Kericho Green Stadium, 3 pm)

Nairobi City Stars
Jimmy Bageya in action against Migori Youth at Camp Toyoyo in Oct 2019

Free weekends for Simba wa Nairobi

Nairobi City Stars will be out of action for two straight weekends and will only be back to competitive league action on Saturday 29 February 2020 with a home game against Kenya Police.

Due to domestic Cup games, the weekend of Sat 15, Sun 16 February is a free one for teams in both the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) as well as National Super League (NSL) except for those that registered to participate.

The next weekend; Sat 22, Sun 23 February will be a free one for Simba wa Nairobi as their next opponents Northern Wanderers have since been expunged from the league.

Nonetheless the team is training as usual and is lining up worthy friendly games to keep busy in the absence of active league games.

Nairobi City Stars
Coach Sanjin Alagic looks on as Kevin Chumsy Okumu takes a throw-in in a past game

Coach assures on return to normal programming

On Saturday 8 February, Nairobi City Stars went down 3-1 to visiting Coast Stima at Camp Toyoyo in a round 24 Betika Super League (BSL) clash.

It was the second season loss that brought an end to the clubs’ impressive four-win slide into the second half of the season.

Never had City Stars gone down by that margin – at least not since March 2019 when they went down to Kibera Black Stars by the same margin at the same venue.

In the aftermath of that shocker, Simba wa Nairobi head coach Sanjin Alagic noted the areas of concern, has his lessons well documented and is now assuring a re-tune to the norm.

“We are little disappointed because of the result. We had a great start with four wins including against Vihiga United and Bidco United who are our direct promotion opponents,”

“But in this match we were poor in defense, we allowed Coast Stima to make problems for us through their counter attack especially from our left side and they scored two goals and a penalty,”

“They enjoyed their opportunities; from four chances they scored three goals and from our side we showed some weakness; we created many chances but didn’t score from them,”

“But that’s football, if you are dominating in ball possession that doesn’t mean that you will win every match,” added the Bosnian

Putting the set back behind him, Sanjin is keeping his eye on the prize and wants to achieve what he set out to at the beginning of the season.

“We will stay focused in our next games and remain determined to win every next match to achieve our goals and finish this season like Champions,”

After the Stima debacle, City Stars will stay out two weekends then resume league action on the 29th of February.

“The team is working very well, the atmosphere in the training is great so we don’t have reasons to be worried. Starting from next match against Kenya Police our fans will again see the real NCS.” summed up Sanjin

City Stars currently tops the 19-team BSL log with 55 points from 23 games and has a seven-point buffer on promotion material Bidco United.