NAIROBI, Kenya, January 25, 2025 – AFC Leopards head coach Fred Ambani is not giving up on the 2024/25 Football Kenya Federation (FKF) Premier League title.
Ambani is confident of catching up to Kenya Police and Tusker FC, both of who have been exchanging the league lead for the past fortnight.
“Of course, I believe that we can catch up to the teams that are there at the top. A lot can change within two games, particularly if we win and they lose then it will be game on. It is only a gap of seven points,” the former Ingwe striker said.
Leopards’ last league title was in 1998 under Tanzanian coach Sunday Kayuni – amassing 69 points to finish with three more ahead of second-placed Mumias Sugar.
Ambani, who was a pivotal part of that victorious squad, says he has assumed a father figure role to the players, inspiring them on and off the pitch.
“They look up to me as a father figure and part of my responsibility is to inspire them and ensure they are in the right frame of mind. After the Talanta game, it was definitely a tough job to get them back up and ready to compete against KCB who are also title contenders. For them to come back from a disappointing result against Talanta and then win against KCB shows that they are a really good team,” he said.
The former Wazito FC head coach took the reins at the den in November last year following a poor run by Ingwe under then boss, Tomas Trucha.
Since then, Ambani has done well to restore the felines’ bite and pride, only losing once in seven games.
That loss was an embarrassing 4-2 loss to relegation-threatened Talanta FC on January 18 – amid claims that players had downed their tools after non-payment of their allowances.
Nonetheless, the 12-time league champions recovered to beat third-placed Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) by the same scoreline at the Sportpesa Arena in Murang’a on Wednesday.
In their latest tie, on Saturday, Ingwe drew 1-1 with Murang’a Seal at the Dandora Stadium – a result that was bittersweet for Ambani.
“For me it is a big blow because winning today’s game would have gone a long way in catching up with the big boys. Usually, we create a lot of chances and bury most of our games in the first half. Today, we did create a lot of chances but we couldn’t convert them unfortunately,” he said.
The gaffer, however, waxed lyrical about winger Julius Masaba, who scored the equaliser in the 39th minute after Murang’a had gone ahead via Joe Waithira.
Masaba, he revealed, was a last-minute replacement for Ovella Ochieng who suffered an injury on Friday.
“We missed one of our players around who we have been building our attacks. He got injured a day to the game and we had to come up with a quick solution. Julius played really well considering he hasn’t been featuring a lot, which can affect any player’s mental preparedness and match fitness. He also scored the goal, which I believe will be a big boost to his confidence,” the coach said.
Leopards are placed fifth with 26 points, 10 behind leaders Tusker FC and one less than Gor Mahia who play Kakamega Homeboyz in Mumias on Sunday.
