NAIROBI, Kenya, November 23, 2025 – Ahead of the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, the Kenya Federation of American Football (KFAF) are making efforts to ensure the country’s participation at the quadrennial event.
KFAF president George Alwanga says they are creating awareness on the sport to encourage more people to join, including from other disciplines, such as, rugby, basketball and athletics.
“American football is quite a unique sport and very encompassing. For this matter, we accept athletes from all directions. And flag football particularly takes athletes from even athletics, some of them are coming from basketball because we are a new sport. The opportunity is there for someone to go national all the way with limited competition,” he said.
Additionally, the president pointed to the 12-team investor league as an opportunity KFAF are exploiting to identify talents and nurture them in preparation for LA 2028.
“We just came out of a meeting the other day with other presidents organized by National Olympic Committee. We learned a few things down there and what we are planning for the next foreseeable future is to try and promote the league. We do have an investor league that has 12 teams, 12 investor teams, so we’ll continue to promote them and of course allow other people to come and join the teams,” Alwanga said.
In these efforts, the federation have joined hands with a number of entities, including National Football League (NFL), National Olympics Committee of Kenya (NOC-K) and the Ministry of Sports.
Alwanga says these collaborations are thus far proving fruitful in growing Kenya’s reputation as a giant of American football in East Africa and beyond.
“We’re still working with the NFL International when it comes to primary schools and then we’ve expanded, we brought in a partner who’s called Touchdown Sports. They’re helping us with the game education and equipment. Of course we do have the means of sport. They’ve supported us in terms of traveling and we are working with them on a program to sensitize the sport. National Olympic Committee is also there, it’s coming in to help us with the technical, you know, the coaches, the referees,” the president explained.
Flag football is set to make its Olympics debut as a medal sport in three years’ time in the American city.
The closest the sport has come into contact with the prestigious event was in 1904 and 1932 when it featured as a demonstration sport in St Louis and Los Angeles respectively.
Alwanga applauds the decision to make it an Olympic sport, noting that this will motivate Kenyan youngsters who have been wondering whether to take up American football or not.
“It’s motivational and inspiring and it helps us create a pathway to help those upcoming athletes to understand that competition doesn’t just end in Kenya nor does it end in continental activities or events in Africa. We are going all the way to the Olympics. It’s quite timely for us here in Kenya and quite inspiring for our athletes,” he said.
He reiterated KFAF’s commitment to help interested players to come to grips with the sport, asking them to simply believe in themselves.
“All you need to know is your own self. If you are so determined, if you are able to compete, if you have the ability to push yourself, that’s all we ask for because everything else we provide you with. We provide you with training, we provide you with a schedule, and we provide you with other athletes to compete with and we only pick the best out of everyone,” he said.
