Kenyan boy from Germany to attend Harambee Stars trials

When it surfaced that there is a Kenyan player in Germany playing for Bayern Munich youth team, many thought that Bernad  Mwarome’s  case was a special one and he doesn’t ‘belong’ to Kenya.

Another interesting case of a player in Brian Ochieng who has earned a call up to the Harambee Stars Under 17 trials will perhaps confirm that there are so many unknown Kenyans out there like the other three players from Britain and United States of America who will also join the junior team trials on Saturday in Karen - Nairobi.

Born in August 2000 in Bonn - Germany, Brain Ochieng’  is a pure Kenyan and right back player who has been taking his football serious at his current club (Bonner SC ) despite attending classes concurrently at Bonn International School with a target of completing his International Baccalaureate (IB) in 2018.

Brain Ochieng (in white) palying for his his club Bonners SC of Germany in one of the past matches. (PHOTO / Courtesey).

Living with his parents who are working with the United Nations and have been  in Germany since 1996, Ochieng’ started playing active football at the age of 10 in various youth clubs in Germany before getting a call up to joining Bonner SC in 2014.

As a young footballer who is habouring dreams of making it big in future, Ochieng’ is lucky to have parents who are so supportive and are ready to help him achieve his desires. Despite his passion for football, his parents have always insisted on balancing football and school and his father Willis Otieno says that he plays a big role in his son’s football journey as well as education.

“As much as we parents are supporting his passion in football, we have great emphasis on his education and he has been balancing the two very well with our support at all levels. He intends to major in Sports Science and Management in University. I do ensure that his football does not get in the way of studies but at the same time I make sure he has good time for football,” Ochieng’s father told The Standard sports.

“As a father, I fully support his passion and take him to his club training three times a week and have watched all his matches since he started playing,” he added.

As opposed to what many people will think, Ochieng has no plans of ditching his country. His dreams are to play in Europe’s top clubs but would wish to feature for Kenya both at junior and senior level if given a chance because he holds Kenya so close to his heart as confirmed by his father.

“My son’s dream is to play for a top club in Europe and also to start featuring in Kenya’s junior team with an ultimate ambition of playing for the senior team.  He has a right to apply for a German passport when he turns 18 to have dual nationality but he has strongly said he will only play for Kenya. We truly appreciate Football Kenya Federation of Kenya for recognizing and inviting such young talents for trials.”

Confirming the call ups of the young players to the Harambee Stars junior team trials, John Kamau who is doubling as the coach for Under 23 national team and Under 17 team, says that despite lacking full structures in Kenya, Football Kenya Federation is so focused in building a future team and one of the best ways to do that is to give every Kenyan an opportunity to showcase his talent to earn a place in the U-17 national team.

“It’s true we still don’t have structures but it’s good to start from somewhere. We have a very sober and ambitious body running football in the country and I must say they are focused on achieving a number of goals.”

“Building a future team is one of the many goals and through trials that will be done in three days to get the best out of the best, we have invited young players from Kenya and from overseas countries to have the equal opportunity of making it to the team needed. Brian Ochieng’ from Germany is one of the four players who will be landing from abroad for trials,” says coach Kamau.

If he makes the cut, Brian Ochieng’ will be part of the 30 players to report to camp on July 5th 2016 in preparation to face Cameroon one month later in the Africa Under 17 Nations Championship Qualifier.

Twitter - @tonyanelka