Abich officially hangs his boots, joins City Stars bench
Former Kenyan International Noah Abich has retired from active football and has now been assimilated into the Nairobi City Stars technical bench as a coach.
His step-out from the pitch to the bench brings an end to an illustrious football career spanning close to 20 years.
His last league game for City Stars was a round 11 National Super League (NSL) game against Mt. Kenya United at Camp Toyoyo on Saturday 27 Oct 2019, a game that ended 1-1.
Abich arrived at City Stars in April 2019 during the second leg of the transitional NSL 2018/19 season. He led from the front as the captain and scored eight times to top score for the club leading them to relegation survival.
In the 2019/20 season, his mentorship and guidance saw the club promoted back to the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) to regain their premiership status lost at the end of the 2016 season.
“I wish to make it official that I have retired from football as a player. You can now refer to me as a coach as that is my new direction,” Abich said.
Having played at the top level for two decades, Abich is eager to give back to the game by molding the next stars as a coach.
“It’s been a long journey that has had highs and lows. I am now at a point where I want to give back by nurturing the next crop of players. I thank City Stars for allowing me to wind down my playing days and for ultimately giving me the opportunity at their technical bench to start my coaching journey at a high level.”
City Stars CEO Patrick Korir thanked Abich for his service to the club.
“We thank him for his dedication and diligence to the team and will support him as he scales upward to coaching. He is part of a long term plan and we will endeavor to build his capacity as we go along,” he said
The former Thur Gem and Makokho Mixed Secondary School alumnus started his competitive football at Premiership side Nzoia Sugar before moving to Chemelil Sugar. He completed his sugar belt circuit with a move to Sony Sugar in 2006 for two seasons.
He arrived at Tusker thereafter and won back-to-back Premiership titles in 2011 and 2012. Next was a short stint at Nakuru AllStars which led him to the ranks of AFC Leopards. Later on, he played for Kakamega Homeboyz, Mathare United, Sofapaka, Bandari and Nakumatt before making joining City Stars in 2019.
The dead-ball specialist bagged several individual awards in his playing career including being the best scoring Premiership defender at Sony Sugar in 2008 and at Mathare United in 2015. Not forgetting with City Stars at the end of the 2018/19 NSL season.
Abich who has lately been coaching youngsters at Zimmerman currently holds a CAF ‘D’ license coaching Diploma and has a chance to learn from UEFA Pro coach Sanjin Alagic from Bosnia, the current head coach at City Stars.
Abich follows Arthur Museve to the City Stars bench. Museve ended his lengthy City Stars playing career at the close of the 2018/19 NSL season to take up a trainers’ role at the club.