Michael Olunga: The Treacherous Journey from Lucky Summer to Al Duhail

Kenyan International Michael Olunga has widely been regarded as Dennis Oliech’s successor at Harambee Stars and has been tasked with fitting into the colossal shoes vacated by the striker known to many as Dennis the Menace.

Olunga has quite adapted to the lofty standards left by Oliech as he is on course to smash his 34 international goals record as he currently stands at 14 with time on his side.

The talisman fondly known as The Engineer after pursuing a course on Geospatial Engineering has recently elicited wild debate and divided fans among football circles with his recent move to Qatari moneybags Al Duhail.

Despite the debate on whether to pursue money or reach for the upper echelons of football first, few can have qualms about the progressive growth that Olunga has displayed since his early days at Upper Hill High School where he honed his skills to become a revered striker.

Olunga’s journey began 26 years ago when he was born and brought up in the dusty shanties of Lucky Summer in Kenyan’s capital Nairobi. 

The proximity to the country’s biggest sporting facility, Moi International Sports Centre Kasarani might have inspired him to one day trade the life of the slums for the lush green playing surface.

As most of the kids from the slums, his life was not a bed of roses as he had to deal with the loss of the dad at the age of seven, leaving the mum with the daunting task of serving as the sole provider of the family.

“Playing football was hard because I used to play barefoot and this would cause me and other kids to get injuries because of the rough fields we played on. But this motivated me to do better, and to work harder so that I can get out of that situation,” explained Olunga in an interview with KTN. 

To overcome the challenges of being brought up in the slums, Olunga turned to education to raise the humble household he was brought up into a more comfortable life.

This prompted a young Olunga to enrol at the Babadogo Primary School where he further fueled his passion for football as he would capitalise on breaks and Physical Education (P.E) lessons to play the beautiful game.

His love for football, however, did not deter him from books as he found a delicate balance between the two competing activities, a feat has been achieved by countable names under the sun who have been successful both on the pitch and in class.

After passing his Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams in 2008, Olunga joined Upper Hill School in Nairobi, a school that has been a conveyor belt for enviable talent that put them at the top of the talent tree of the sporting landscape in the country.

Despite being a powerhouse in High School tournaments back in the ’80s alongside Jamhuri High School the institution faded off in the ’90s and early 2000s but it managed to retain its former glory in the last decade.

The union between Olunga and Upper Hill was a match made in heaven as the school has a track record of producing stars such as Ovella Ochieng, Timothy Luda, Bonaventure Maruti and Gilbert Selebwa.

While still a student, Olunga has already begun sending shock waves around Nairobi as he was famed for his ferocious left foot that sent shivers down the spine of defenders and goalkeepers. His lanky frame posed a huge challenge to the budding students who found it hard to contain his physical strength that has since developed to be one of the biggest arsenals in his war chest.

Just like many star players in a team, Olunga came of age in big matches and none so than the Nairobi County finals pitting Ofafa Jericho High School and Upper Hill where the teenager bagged a hat-trick to inspire his school to a 4-3 victory and earned them a place at the Nationals.

The precedence of personal accolades was set rolling when he was voted the Most Valuable Player at the end of the Rising Stars National Schools Championship held in Mombasa in mid-August 2012.

He did so after emerging as the top scorer with six goals to lead Upper Hill to a runner’s up finish after a final against Kitale’s St. Anthony’s.

While still in school, an 18-year-old Olunga became an instant hit attracting the eyes of top Kenyan Premier League sides including Gor Mahia, AFC Leopards as well as Thika United, he, however, was still under Liberty Sports Academy.

He was also under the wings of Jacob Ghost Mulee who is the current Harambee Stars coach and has amassed a wealth of experience in coaching after being a goalkeeper for Tusker FC.

With Kenya having little accredited football academies to nurture talent, the country has been forced to turn to schools to develop talents with most local and international club scouts flocking tournaments in pursuit of the next big thing.

The early success on the pitch did not deter his ambition of being an engineer as he managed to score an A- in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams and joined the Technical University of Kenya (TUK).

Olunga also had to overcome his parent's hurdle at a young age in order to follow his passion for playing football but also opened up on finding it hard to balance between class and field.

“My parents were against me playing football professionally because they wanted me to focus on my education, I opted to do both, they are now my biggest fans, and I, therefore, owe it to them to give my studies my level best. It is challenging to combine both academics and football, everything should be given its time, so I work hard and also pray a lot,” said Olunga in an interview with TUK.

A move to Europe was on the cards for Olunga after completing High School as rumours flew that he was set for trials in France but the move failed to materialise and he was sent on loan to Tusker FC from his parent club Liberty after a stellar season with them.

Olunga’s penchant for goals was evident from a young age as back in 2012 he led an unbeaten Liberty Sports to top of the 20-team Zone D to earn his side an automatic entry to Nairobi’s top league; the Provincial League, scoring 32 of 66 goals scored by Liberty Sports.

During the 2012 season, he set the internet ablaze after he smashed seven goals in a single match helping his team to an 8-0 win, a feat he managed to better later on in his career.

Adapting to life in the Kenyan Premier League was a challenge for Olunga as he played second fiddle to Jesse Were who was a proven goalscorer having joined from Mathare United, he ended up scoring two goals in the 2013 season.

The then Tusker FC coach Robert Matano handed Olunga his debut in the KPL with Olunga coming to credit him two years later after winning the KPL MVP.

“Tonight I want to show my gratitude to coach Matano. He was the one who believed in me and gave me the chance for my first ever KPL match. I believe without him it would have taken me much longer, or never, to play in the top tier league,” Olunga said during his acceptance speech for the MVP crown.

Olunga still picked some positives during his one year stint at Tusker as he scored on his CAF Champions League debut in the 4-1 win over St.Michel of Seychelles.

Ghost Mulee resorted to loaning the striker to Thika United who have been known to thrust players to the next level with some notable players who have since turned out for the club including Francis Kahata, Dennis Odhiambo, Clifton Miheso and Peter Opiyo.

“He is in that stage in his career where he needs to play regularly and we felt that was not guaranteed at Tusker FC. He’s learnt a lot at the club (Tusker FC) and I believe he will do well at his new club. Thika has a great youth development structure and I believe he’ll fit in well in the team,” said Mulee as Olunga penned the Thika deal.

The 2014 season was kind to Olunga having mastered the ropes of the KPL and finished as Thika United’s top scorer with nine goals and finished the season inside the top three brackets of goals scored.

Olunga has developed a knack of switching teams after becoming the top scorer having done that previously with Upper Hill, Liberty and Thika United where he joined the then champions Gor Mahia.

The departure of Dan Sserunkuma to Tanzanian giants Simba SC left a huge void to fill at K’Ogalo as Olunga was tasked with leading the line but his debut for the club was one to forget as he missed a penalty against Zambian side Power Dynamos in a pre-season friendly.

He managed to turn the bile of K’Ogalo faithful when he was trolled for missing the penalty to fuel his success as he emerged the club’s top scorer and delivering the 15th league title for Gor Mahia in what was an invincible season for the Green Army.

Olunga was named the most valuable player in 2015 KPL awards and also the runners-up in the top scorer with goals also coming in the international scene that season as he was also the top scorer at the CECAFA club championship held in Tanzania where he scored 5 goals.

Following an unsuccessful trial at Bidvest Wits during the KPL midseason, Olunga finally made the move to Swedish club Djurgårdens IF on a four year deal following successful trails where he scored two goals in a 2-0 win over Norwegian side Aalesund.

The deal included an offer to continue his education at the University of Stockholm.

Adapting to life in Sweden was a huge challenge for Olunga as he came up against different weather, culture and food, a situation which made him go on a goal drought as he had to wait for 19 games before netting his first league goal.

The goals quickly came by following the barren spell as he scored 12 goals in 27 league appearances as he finished fifth on the top scorer’s chart before earning a big-money move to China, inking a deal with Guizhou Zhicheng.

The newly-promoted side had reportedly agreed to pay a tidy amount, ranging from Kshs 350 million to the region of Kshs 467 million according to Swedish news site Expressen which was the most expensive deal from a Stockholm club ever then.

He struggled to adapt to life in China managing a paltry two goals in nine appearances in the 2017 season after shunning moves to Russian side CSKA Moscow and Turkish giants Galatasaray.

A loan move came knocking for Olunga, this time newly promoted Girona FC were making their maiden appearance in the Spanish LaLiga as he became the first-ever Kenyan to play in the league.

While at Girona he once again ripped record books by becoming the first-ever Girona player to score a hat-trick in the LaLiga and played alongside outstanding teammates in the name of Portu who has since moved to Real Sociedad and Mojica who joined Italian side, Atalanta.

Girona, however, failed to make his loan permanent as he returned to his parent club Zhicheng but lasted only two months before making the move to Japanese side Kashiwa Reysol.

At Reysol is probably where the Engineer played his best football but he again struggled to adapt to his unfamiliar surroundings as he banged three goals in 10 games during his first season as the club suffered relegation to the second tier.

Just as he has done time and again, once he found his footing, Olunga tore apart the Japanese J2 League finishing the season with 27 goals from 30 games and scored eight goals as they walloped Kyoto Sanga 13-1 on the final day of the season.

The empathic result cemented their promotion to the top flight at the first time of asking as Olunga missed out on the top scorer’s gong by a single goal.

His record-breaking 2020-2021 season kicked off in style as he scored a brace in the first match before the Covid-19 pandemic cut short the season but he was not deterred and seemed to use the break to work on his weaknesses before returning a rejuvenated player showing no signs of rustiness. 

“We stopped playing for about four months and now we are just getting back to the game. The transition has been hard as we used to come and do the pre-season then start the league but we had to stop. It was also a good time as I had time to realise some of my weaknesses and work on them, especially physically. It has had its advantages and disadvantages but I thank God we are now back and the league is running smoothly,” noted Olunga in an interview with KTN back in September 2020.

He went ahead to become the league’s top scorer after finishing the season with 28 goals from 32 games and also bagged the Japanese top scorer’s award in the process taking home Ksh 528,000.

During his 28 goal harvest, he went on a six-game scoring streak where he bagged eight goals in the impressive run including a hat-trick against Vegalta Sendai.

He also won the Most Valuable Player (MVP) becoming the first African to do so despite the league boasting of legends such as Patrick M’boma and Raïs M'Bolhi.

Just as he has done previously with Thika, Gor Mahia, Djurgårdens and now Reysol, Olunga secured a big-money move to a different club after emerging as the top scorer for his team.

His next destination was Qatar in a deal worth Ksh800 million according to Transfermarkt with sources indicating that he earns a windfall of Ksh6 Million a week. 

A day after making the Duhail signing, he was handed his debut against Qatari giants Al Saad but only lasted 65 minutes before being subbed off.

He has already received the backing of his coach Sabri Lamouchi.

“Olunga presented a good first match with the team against Al Sadd, and he did not show with his known scoring power, but he will add to the team, and he is the top scorer in the Japanese league and is trying to adapt with his teammates,” said the coach.

The sky continues to be the limit for Olunga who turns 27 in March and has a bright future ahead of him judging from his meteoric rise from the slums of Lucky Summer.