‘MUM DIDN’T WANT ME TO PLAY FOOTBALL’ MICHAEL OLUNGA TALKS CHALLENGES PLAYING FOR INTERNATIONAL TEAMS

Kenyan football star Michael Olunga has disclosed how he developed interest in football while still in primary school. Speaking during an interview with media personality and comedian Jalang’o, the footballer says he participated in inter class and school competitions which influenced his football career. 

While at Aquinas High School where he studied form one and two, he was transferred to a different school in Homa Bay as his mother was against him playing football, “I studied at Aquinas in for one and two but my mum didn’t want me to play football. She took me to Homa Bay High School, I stayed there for one term only then moved to Upper Hill.”

According to Olunga, he got his breakthrough while in Upper Hill High School after being signed by legendary coach Ghost Mulee. “My sports master in the school loved football and he was friends with Ghost Mulee. He told him to give me a chance to go for trials. I went for trials and after the first game, Mulee identified my talent and signed me to his talent academy and that is when I joined Liberty,” said Olunga. 

After getting an A- in high school, he progressed to university but he did not graduate because while in third year, he had become a powerhouse sports personality forcing him to quit school after getting an offer to play for a Swedish team. He, however, noted that he is considering going back to school to complete his engineering course. 

“In third year I was playing for Gor Mahia I was performing well in both the local league and CECAFA but I was still attending classes. In 2015 after playing for Gor Mahia, I finished as the top scorer for Gor Mahia with 19 goals. After the season a number of international football clubs gave me offers. I’ll go back to school to graduate and even do other courses because education never ends.” he said. 

Olunga stated that he considered going to Sweden since he had always wanted to play in Europe believing that it would open more doors. The footballer said he arrived in Sweden during winter, setting up a challenge in adopting to severe weather in the European country. “I decided to go to Sweden because it was the right step for me as I was a young player and also because it was in Europe. I always wanted to go to Europe. So even though other teams offered a good pay better than Sweden, I chose Sweden because I believed I would open more doors for me,” said Olunga. 

His first six months in Sweden was not a walk in the park. “After doing trials for three weeks, the team gave me a four year contract. The first six months I did not score even a single goal, you can imagine I’m from Kenya where I scored over 40 goals in one season but I’m in Sweden and I have not scored any goal in six months,” he said. 

Adding, “After six months, a new coach was brought and he said he does not know any player and so it was up to us to prove ourselves to earn a spot in the first team. After training I was selected to the first team and I scored two goals. The following game I scored again and in the remaining 13 games I scored 12 goals.”

After a season he was transferred to China’s Guizhou Zhichenng for Sh400 million, however the opportunities there were limited. “I was transferred to China’s Guizhou Zhicheng and I had problems with my visa, I came back home to fix it and by the time in went back to China, the league had started and they had played four games. I went and started playing and in the nine games that I played I scored only two goals.

Unfortunately, the coach who facilitated my transfer was fired and the new coach came with two new strikers. Opportunities were limited because the rule in China allows only five foreigners to play in one game and we were seven foreigners,” he stated. 

Olunga stayed with the team for six months after which he demanded a transfer citing scarce opportunities to play. “After six months I told the team management I either go to another team on loan or transfer if I wasn’t given an opportunity to play. We had a mutual agreement and we decided I go to France on loan. However, as I was planning to travel to Paris, I got a call from a team in Spain and I preferred La Liga League than playing in France. I diverted my flight in Doha and headed to Barcelona, Spain,” said Olunga. 

Further, he opened up on his first encounter with Barcelona player Lionel Messi. “The game after my debut match we played against Barcelona and when you see players like Messi, Iniesta, Suarez and remember where you came from you feel good. We lost to Barcelona but after the game you just feel honoured,” said Olunga. 

Olunga also discussed his move to Japan, noting that he was sold at a much less amount due to lack of playtime in his previous teams. “Due to lack of playtime I was transferred to Japan for about Sh180 million. However, the sports director of the Japanese team had faith in me and gave me the confidence to move to Japan. I decided to move to Japan because I wanted to explore and I believed I could be successful because you never know until you try,” he said. 

In Japan, Olunga was faced with language barrier and adopting to the foods in the country however he was more focused on his goals. “I was the only English-speaking player in our team. We had five foreigners – four Brazilians and one Kenyan, the rest were Japanese. The coach was a Brazilian and assistant coach a Japanese but despite the challenges I had already set my target and I wanted to be the best player.

I used to eat their food mainly sushi and pasta but I had a friend pilot who used to bring me Kenyan food – maize flour, fish and vegetables – when flying to Tokyo. If I had a game on a Saturday I used to make ugali and fish on a Friday and when I get to the pitch I perform well,” he joked. 

On his controversial move to Qatar, the footballer said; “I was going for my holiday but my boss told me to alight at Doha and sign a new contract. When the news about my entry was breaking, I had cancelled my holiday and I was already on the starting line up. When they approached me I did my own research and discovered it was an established team and it performed well. I have played 21 games where I scored 20 goals.”