Mathare Youth Sports Association: the champions of 2006
How a clean-up of a rubbish-covered pitch in Nairobi in 1987 became Africa's largest youth sports organisation and the 2006 street football world champion.
When the Mathare Youth Sports Association won the Festival 06 final in Berlin in July 2006, it was already one of the best-known football-for-development organisations in the world. Its story starts nearly twenty years earlier, on a pitch in Nairobi that nobody could play on.
A pitch full of rubbish
MYSA was founded in 1987 in Mathare, a collection of informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya. Its founder, Bob Munro (1942–2025), was a Canadian working as an adviser to the United Nations in Nairobi on environmental policy, water resources and sustainable development. According to the organisation’s history, children from Mathare led him to their football pitch, which was covered in debris and rubbish. Clearing it was the first step.
On 22 August 1987, a youth competition started with 27 clubs. The first match, Lucky Strikers against Gwangi, was won 2–1 by Gwangi.
Points for goals, points for clean-ups
What made MYSA different was the way it connected football to life in the neighbourhood. From the start, the organisation set out to build social skills through the game:
- Teams score league points not only for winning matches but for taking part in clean-up projects in their communities.
- Players can have their school fees paid, and those without a school place can still use the library.
- Theatre performances are used to teach about HIV/AIDS, drugs and prostitution.
- Young people learn leadership, photography and music.
The model is simple to describe and hard to copy: football is the reason young people show up, and the commitments around football are what change the neighbourhood.
Girls on the pitch
MYSA introduced football for girls in 1992. The first champions of the girls’ league were Mama Fatuma Children’s Home, a team of orphans from Eastleigh coached by a 15-year-old, Solomon “Solo” Teklu, who had scored the first goal in MYSA’s very first match as a six-year-old. By 2006, a third of MYSA’s players were girls.
From youth leagues to a professional club
In 1994 MYSA formed its own professional club, Mathare United F.C., built from all-star selections of its youth teams. Players who had joined MYSA aged six went on to become professionals, and the club has supplied players to the Kenyan national team. Doreen Nabwire, Dennis Oliech, who later played for AJ Auxerre in France, and Jamal Mohammed all started at MYSA.
By 2010, around 14,000 children were playing in 1,200 MYSA teams, which made it the largest youth sports association in Africa.
Recognition
MYSA has been nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize. Its awards include:
| Year | Award |
|---|---|
| 1999 | UNEP Global 500 Award for environmental innovation |
| 2001 | CAF African Youth Development Award |
| 2003 | Prince Claus Award (Netherlands) |
| 2004 | Laureus Sport for Good Award |
It has been supported financially by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) and Norway’s Strømme Foundation.
Berlin 2006 and after
MYSA was one of 22 teams at the streetfootballworld festival 06. In the final on 8 July 2006 it drew 2–2 with KickAIDS from Pretoria and won the shoot-out 4–3, lifting the Copa Andrés Escobar.
Its connection to the streetfootballworld network continued after the festival. When FIFA and streetfootballworld built the first wave of Football for Hope centres across Africa between 2008 and 2009, one of the four sites was the Mathare Football for Hope Centre in Kangundo, Komarock, Kenya.
FAQ
What does MYSA stand for?
Mathare Youth Sports Association, a sports and community organisation founded in 1987 in Mathare, Nairobi.
Who founded MYSA?
Bob Munro, a Canadian adviser to the United Nations in Nairobi, in 1987.
How does MYSA’s points system work?
Teams earn league points for winning matches and for community work such as neighbourhood clean-ups.
Which professional players came through MYSA?
Among others, Doreen Nabwire, Dennis Oliech and Jamal Mohammed. MYSA’s own professional club is Mathare United.
Conclusion
MYSA shows what the 2006 festival was trying to celebrate. Its team won in Berlin, but its real results are counted in clean pitches, paid school fees and players who went from the Mathare leagues to the national team. Read more about the 2006 final or explore other football for development organisations.