Gor Mahia F.C.

Gor Mahia
Full nameGor Mahia Football Club
Short nameGor Mahia
Founded17 February 1968; 56 years ago (1968-02-17)
GroundMoi International Sports Centre
Capacity80,000
ChairmanAmbrose Rachier
LeagueKenyan Premier League
2023–24KPL, 1st of 18
Websitehttps://gormahiafckenya.co.ke/
colours

Gor Mahia Football Club (/ˌɡɔːr ˈmaɪjə/ ⓘ), commonly known as K'Ogalo (Dholuo for 'descendant of Ogalo') is a professional football club based in Nairobi, Kenya. They have won the Kenyan Premier League a record 21 times,[1] and have also won the FKF President's Cup a record 11 times. It is the first and only team from Kenya to win an African continental title to date, having won the African Cup Winners' Cup in 1987 after previously reaching the final in 1979.[2][3]

The club was formally established on 17 February 1968 as a merger of Luo Union and Luo Sports Club (also known as Luo Stars) and won the national league at the first time of asking. Some of its original leaders were politicians Tom Mboya and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga. However, the club was founded much earlier, in 1915, and participated intermittently in local tournaments in Western Kenya. Various groups used this name at different times.

The club plays its home games at the Nairobi City Stadium. Alternatively, they also play their home games at the Moi International Sports Centre and the Nyayo National Stadium. It has been proposed that the club hosts some of its home matches at its alternate stadiums in its earlier days, the Kisumu County Stadium and the Mombasa Municipal Stadium.[4]

The club won the Kenya National Football League in 1968, having been formally founded only in February of the same year.[5] In 1976, Gor Mahia won the national league unbeaten,[6][7] and repeated the same feat 39 years later under the leadership of Frank Nuttall.[8]

Towards the end of the 2000s, Gor started bouncing back to fame steadily bringing Kenyan football fans back to the pitch and regularly filling sold-out stadiums.[9] The club returned to silverware in 2008 when it won the KFF Cup after a thirteen-year drought of any major trophies. Gor proceeded to win the Kenya DSTV Super Cup against the year's defending champs, Mathare United before the beginning of the 2009 KPL season.[10] On 26 October 2011 Gor Mahia in typically dominant fashion trounced Sofapaka to win the 2011 edition of the FKL Cup having dispatched their archrivals AFC Leopards 6 days earlier in a 20 October Heroes Day thriller.[11][12]

  1. ^ "Kenya – List of Champions". Archived from the original on 12 September 2022. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  2. ^ "Kenya:: Gor Mahia Win the African Cup – Winners' Cup Following a 1–1 Draw With Esperance". Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  3. ^ "African Cup Winners' Cup". Archived from the original on 13 September 2022. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  4. ^ "Kisumu stadium renovation". Standard Digital News. Archived from the original on 29 July 2023. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  5. ^ "www.gorfc.com [13]". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  6. ^ "When Gor Mahia won the league unbeaten". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  7. ^ "It's derby time". Archived from the original on 17 August 2016. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  8. ^ Willis, Seth (1 November 2015). "Gor Mahia 2–0 Muhoroni Youth: Unbeaten K'Ogalo". Goal.com. Archived from the original on 4 November 2015. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  9. ^ "Why football is on the rise in Kenya". BBC News. Archived from the original on 15 March 2012. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  10. ^ "Gor Mahia Outclass Mathare United in Kenya Super Cup - Goal.com". 24 January 2009. Archived from the original on 11 October 2016. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  11. ^ "Gor Mahia clinch FKL Cup". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  12. ^ "Untitled 1". Archived from the original on 30 March 2016. Retrieved 10 September 2016.