Veteran Coach Champion dies

Brian Michira of Shabana FC goes for the ball during a friendly match with AFC Leorpards at Gusii Stadium after Mashujaa day celebrations.Shabana won 1-0(Sammy Omingo,Standard)

Former Shabana FC Coach and founder member John Champion is dead.

Champion who founded Shabana FC alongside Kisii businessman Dogo Khan in the late 1970s died of Pneumonia in a Kisii Hospital onMarch 24,2022.

He was among the first pioneer coaches of the former National Youth Olympic Centres founded by German tactician Bernard Zygoll in the early seventies that went to yield some of the top footballers in Kenya of the 1970s and.1980s

The Ugandan born

Champion was based in Kisii Youth Olympic Centre.

Other coaches of other centres in the country were the late Sammy Nyongesa (Nakuru), Mohammed Kheri(Mombasa), Steve Yongo (Kisumu) and Zygoll (Nairobi).

Champion died aged 85. Former Shabana midfielder and athlete Yobes Ondieki we're among the first players to send their condolences.

He coached Sony Sugar, Mumias FC, Gilgil Telecommunications Industries(GTI) and the National Under 17 Team.

Champion is credited for moulding former international players strikers Henry Nyandoro, Moses Gikenyi and Henry Motego, former Belgium based professional goalkeeper turned striker Mike Okoth and defender Rashid Omar, among others.

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Shabana FC Coach