Football stars Victor Wanyama and his brother McDonald Mariga recently unveiled their football academy in Busia County.
Mariga retired from football while Wanyama plays for Montreal Impact which participates in the United States’ Major League Soccer (MLS).
Wanyama has also previously played for Tottenham Hotspurs, Southampton, Celtic and Germinal Beerschot in Belgium.
In a video published on Betgr8 Kenya YouTube channel, Mariga unveiled the academy which sits on a 21-acre piece of land.
He noted that they decided to set the academy as a family since they had a large piece of land that could be used for the same.
The academy has an administration block that has a reception area and offices where he says decisions will be made.
Other than a theory room, the administration block will also have a game room where they would engage in co-curricular activities such as Play Stations.
Away from the administration block, a complex hosting theory classes stands.
“We will have less students in each classroom so that it can be easy to learn. The classrooms are also fitted with an AC to make students as comfortable as we can
“Our target is 14-15 years, so every year we will be hosting a tournament and select. We will have coaches looking at the best talents and we will admit them here,” Mariga said.
They also have teachers’ quarters for teachers who would prefer living within the academy instead of renting a house elsewhere.
“We want to play the Africa Cup of Nations and the World Cup; that is our target. I think that if we have proper academies in the country, this being the first one, we will produce more and more players and big players,” Mariga added.
Alongside the teachers’ quarters are cubicles that will be used as students’ sleeping area; each cubicle of the Wanyama Football Academy will accommodate four students.
Cabinets will also be installed in the rooms to serve as their storage units.
“We’ve played in Europe, we’ve seen bigger clubs that have academies. We have academies that are willing to work with us in different programs,” Mariga stated.
As earlier reported on WoK, Wanyama kicked off his career at Nairobi City Stars where he spent a few months before he was signed by AFC Leopards.
He spent a year at AFC Leopards before progressing to Helsingborg then Beerschor and later Celtic.
In 2013, Wanyama signed with Southampton where he stayed until 2016 when he moved to Tottenham Hotspur where he spent three years.
He joined CF Montreal in 2020.
In October 2022, information made available via MLS official site showed that Wanyama earned Ksh 24 million a month, totaling Ksh 374 million annually plus an annual guaranteed compensation.
