Kenyan midfielder Victor Wanyama plots coaching move
By Mercy SimiyuAs he inches into the sunset of what has been a historic career on the football pitch, Victor Wanyama has opened up on the possibility of switching to coaching.
In an interview with Radio 47, Wanyama announced he intends to commence coaching courses in the next few months.
“That’s the plan,” he confirmed.
“In the coming season (2024), I want to start taking my coaching badges. During the season that is. I will make time.”
That said, Wanyama, who is currently contracted to Major League Soccer (MLS) side Montreal Impact, explained he has not thought about hanging his boots. Yet.
“I have a year left on my contract at Montreal Impact. After that, I feel I still have some strength in me. I will evaluate the situation at the time but the plan is to continue (playing).”
Wanyama, who captained Harambee Stars at the 2019 Africa Nations Cup in Egypt, also lifted the lid on the possibility of making a return to the Kenya national football team.
The midfielder recently paid a courtesy call on Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba.
Namwamba later announced the defensive minded midfielder, who is the son of famed former footballer and coach Noah Wanyama, was open to the possibility of donning the national team colours.
Harambee Stars are currently involved in competing in the qualification matches for the 2026 Fifa World Cup which will be co-hosted by USA, Canada and Mexico. Kenya has also, alongside Uganda and Tanzania, recently won the hosting rights for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations.
“The door is still open for me to play for Harambee Stars, but with conditions. A lot has to change with how the game is managed by the federation (FKF).”
Wanyama is, alongside his elder brother Macdonald Mariga, considered the most successful footballers in East Africa.
Now 32, Wanyama’s eventful career on the football pitch commenced in Kenya at AFC Leopards before he enjoyed a short stint at Sweden’s Helsinborgs.
He has also played in Belgium for Anderlecht and Beerschort, moved to Britian where he turned out for Celtic, Southampton and Tottenham before his switch to the MLS.
His career has seen him play with and against some of the most talented players of all time including Lionel Messi, Saido Mane, Harry Kane, and Andreas Iniesta, whom he describes as the toughest opponent he has faced.
In between, he scored six times in 64 appearances for Kenya in a spell that commenced in 2007 and lasted 13 years.
Some of the successes he earned over the years include two Scottish Premier League titles alongside the Scottish Cup. He has also won the Canadian Championship at his current workstation and helped Tottenham get to the final of the UEFA Champions League, arguably the world’s most popular and lucrative club competition, in 2019.
“If there’s one football result I could reverse, it is to enable us win the Champions League final against Liverpool,” the player said in a past interview.
At a personal level, Wanyama won the Scottish Young Player of the Year award in 2013 and was shortlisted for the Caf Young player of the Year award.
Wanyama, who is building a state of the art football academy in his Busia hometown, some 450 km from Nairobi, could, thus, join a number of Kenyan footballers successfully switched from playing to coaching.
They include Jacob ‘Ghost’ Mulee who won titles with Harambee Stars and Tusker, Zedekiah Otieno, Musa Otieno, Anthony Kimani, and John Barasa.
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