Mieno to join Tunisian soccer club

By Gilbert Wandera

Three weeks after losing top defender James Situma, Sofapaka will also part with creative midfielder Humphrey Mieno.

Humprey Mieno (left) with Titus Mulama when Sofapaka faced Club Africain in a Caf Confederations Cup tie at Nyayo Stadium. Photo: Stafford Ondego/Standard

The player is back home after attending trials at Club African in Tunisia and both clubs have started negotiations over his signature.

Mieno impressed during the Confederations Cup match involving the two sides last month and was invited for trials at the Tunisian club.

Sofapaka President Elly Kalekwa said the deal is as good as done and the two teams are just working on the finer details.

“The Tunisian club likes him and what remains is for us to agree on the terms before he moves.  The major issues have been agreed upon what is remaining are the finer details,” said Kalekwa.

An excited Kalekwa said this move is one of the positive aspects of their participation in the Confederations Cup.

“We spent a lot of money and we still did not make it to the group stages of the competition but we remain hopeful that we can recoup some of that investment by selling some of our players,” he said.

He added: “This will be a major promotion for our players because they have an opportunity to play abroad.” Last week the club sold Situma to FK Tirana of Albania for Sh7million.

Sofapaka made history by making it to the quarter-final of the Confederations Cup competition and were one stage away from reaching the money stages.

Elsewhere, last weekend’s Kenyan Premier League (KPL) match pitting Gor Mahia against Thika United at City Stadium raised the highest gate collections so far this season.

The match raised Sh989,000 and was attended by slightly more than 6,000 fans. Majority of the fans sat at the terraces and paid Sh100 to watch the encounter.

According to Martin Nkaari, a director of Ticket Masters, the figure raised was impressive and is likely to translate into higher figures in the matches to follow.

“Before that, no other encounter had raised such a figure and we hope that this will translate into more money in the coming matches.”