AFC Leopards Sports Club, often simply known as "AFC" or "the Leopards," is a soccer club, based in Nairobi which was founded in 1964. Nicknamed "ingwe" ("leopard" in Luhya), it is a traditional and popular Kenyan team and its home stadium is the Nyayo National Stadium, with a capacity of 30,000. Despite being based in the capital, Nairobi in the country's south east,the bedrock of its support is in western Kenya. The team plays in white shirts with blue hoops, white shorts and blue socks and sometimes with blue and white vertically-striped shirts; its alternative outfit is red jerseys and white shorts. Its traditional rival is Gor Mahia; their encounters are assumed to be thrillers, and because of the passion of the fans they are considered as the most intense and famous derbies in the region. AFC is considered an eastern, central and southern Africa soccer powerhouse because of its numerous continental appearances and its dominance in the CECAFA club championships, in addition to its dazzling array of formidable players.
[edit] History
AFC Leopards' standing as one of the most successful clubs in the region is underlined by the fact that it has won the Kenyan football league 12 times and the Kenyan cup six times, and the CECAFA Club championship 5 times. The club was formed in 1964 as Abaluhya United FC when a number of small clubs amalgamated.[1] The name was changed to Abaluhya FC and later to All Footballers Confederation-Leopards, still maintaining the AFC initials (and became AFC Leopards) in 1980, when the Kenyan government banned tribal names (Abaluhya refers to the Luhya tribe). Like many other traditional Kenyan clubs, AFC Leopards faced severe financial difficulties due to mismanagement.Controversies surrounding the conduct of the premier league ended with the club being relegated albeit controversially. In this regard it did not participate in any league in 2007 but took part in the low key KFF Community Cup, which marked its resurgence. In 2008 they played in Nationwide League, the second tier league in Kenya and won their zone, thus returning to the Kenyan Premier League for the 2009 season in which it also won the Football Kenya Cup.[2] All in all,"ingwe" has maintained a very respectable level of play and still holds a strong tradition as a historical team.
[edit] Support
AFC Leopards SC has a large and diverse fanbase, who hold a long-standing rivalry with other clubs, especially Gor Mahia. The club is arguably the biggest and most popular football club in Kenya and the Eastern Africa - with 9 million estimated supporters locally. These fans are composed into a number of supporters branches spread all over the country. More so, its support and fame transcends beyond the Kenyan boundaries to the rest of the continent especially the entire Eastern and Southern Africa. In a sense, Kenya and East Africa's favourite soccer club never plays an away match – AFC Leopards SC draws more supporters at away games than its opposition 'home' teams.Even at present the club still retains higher average attendances than all the clubs in the Kenya Premier League.In fact their first match upon return to the 2009 premier league had to be stopped because of insecurity occasioned by the collapsing of the perimeter fence due to a mammoth crowd of its supporters in and outside the ground.
In March 2011, a group of the Club’s supporters established a democratically accountable Supporters’ Trust – the Club of Leopards’ Active and Wise Supporters (CLAWS) Trust. It has a legal Constitution with a wide range of objectives. Its objectives can be summarized as aiming to represent the interests of AFC Leopards supporters to the Club management, the media, the local community including corporate partners and the football world, as well as encouraging football in the local community and strengthening the links between the local community and the Club.
[edit] Achievements
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- 1966, 1967, 1970, 1973, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1998.
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- 1967, 1968, 1985, 1991, 1994, 2001, 2009.
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- 1979, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1997.
[edit] Performance in CAF competitions
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- 1999 - First Round
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- 2010 - Preliminary Round
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- 1994 - Quarter-Finals
- 1997 - Quarter-Finals
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- 1985 - Semi-Finals
- 1986 - Second Round
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- 1988 - Quarter-Finals
- 1992 - First Round
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- 2002 - First Round
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[edit] Current squad
From http://www.afcleopards.net/index.php?id=566 Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
[edit] Club Officials
[edit] Executive Committee
- Chairman: Alex Ole Magelo
- Secretary: Josephert Bukachi
- Treasurer: Patrick Ngaira
- Organising Secretary: Timothy Lilumbi
[edit] Technical staff
- Head Coach:
Jan Koops "Wepukhulu"
- Assistant Coach:
Mickey Weche
- Goalie Trainer: Mohammed Fwaya
- Team Manager: Bernard Onyango
- Technical Advisor: Noah
[edit] Legends
- Goalkeeper: Mohamed Abbas Kenya 1
- Defender: Mickey Weche
- Defender: Josphat Murilla
- Winger: Francise Kadenge
- Striker: JJ Masiga
[edit] References
[edit] External links
