Michael Olung’a Foundation Academy (MOFA) is taking a different approach to youth football development, combining talent identification with education as they seek to produce well-rounded players capable of succeeding on and off the pitch.
The academy’s youth coach Ruben Apaka says MOFA’s philosophy goes beyond producing footballers, with education forming a key part of its long-term development plan. “Our main aim is to nurture talents, but the philosophy also includes academics. We don’t want to play football alone. We want to bring well-rounded individuals,” Apaka said.
MOFA, whose senior side was established in 2022, has spent the last two seasons in the National Super League, finishing fifth with 64 points in both campaigns. Their talent identification programme cuts across different levels of the game, with scouts searching for players from grassroots, regional and national competitions.
“We look for talent from grassroots, regional, to national levels. There is a lot of talent in the country, and sometimes we are forced to do elimination to get the right candidates, with factors such as position and player profile,” Apaka said.
But identifying talent is only the first step. MOFA has established partnerships with schools where its players can continue their education while receiving structured football development. “After discovering players, we distribute them to our partner schools. For primary and junior secondary, we have Nyabondo, which reached East Africa in this year’s school games,” Apaka said.
At secondary school level, the academy works with Maseno School, Kisumu Day, Rapogi Boys, St Joseph Boys, Homa Bay Boys, Mbita High School, Ringa Boys and St Mary’s Yala, who represented Kenya at the FEASSA Games. Apaka says the academy deliberately chooses institutions with established records in both academics and sports.
“We partner with schools that are already known in talent development and that are excellent academically. We request them to allow us to partner with them and share our philosophy with them, and once we have an understanding, the process begins,” he said. The model is already beginning to produce national-team players, with MOFA youngsters earning call-ups at various age-group levels.
“This process has borne fruit because at the moment some of our players have earned call-ups to represent the national team at different levels. We had two in the U-15 category; we have four in the U-17 who travelled to Rwanda, three in the U-20 and two in the U-23,” Apaka said. Lucksvien Aseka, Rio Ferdinand Omondi, Brighton Biko and Gift Mathiko were among the players called up to the U-17 side yesterday.
MOFA is now looking to strengthen the final stages of that pathway by expanding its partnerships with colleges and universities to ensure players do not have to choose between higher education and football after completing secondary school.
“We are looking forward to partnering with colleges and universities also to ensure our players are ready,” Apaka said. The academy hopes the investment in youth development will eventually feed directly into its senior team, with several youngsters expected to make the step up after completing their high school careers.
“We have exceptional players who, once they are done with their high school games, will have minutes for the first team in the league games,” Apaka said. While youth development remains at the heart of the project, MOFA’s senior team is also chasing promotion to the FKF Premier League after falling short last season. “We are aiming to play in the top flight next season.
This was our target last season, but we fell short. We have made good signings and our pre-season was good. We are very optimistic,” Apaka said. For MOFA, the bigger ambition is to build a pathway in which discovering a talented youngster is only the beginning.
Education, competitive football and national-team opportunities are being woven into one development system designed to prepare players for life both on and off the pitch.
