NAIROBI, Kenya, July 16, 2026 – Whereas football and athletics — arguably — hold the title as the most beloved sports in the country, Kenya Federation of American Football (KFAF) president George Alwanga believes flag football is on its way to attaining the same level.
Alwanga says the relatively new sport is quickly captivating the hearts of many around the country, who are subsequently embracing it in droves.
In the past one year, he claims, the sport has grown by 60 per cent as far as its popularity is concerned.
“Last year we had a league, a varsity league of only five universities and this year already we have 12 universities that have signed up to play. When it comes to primary schools, last year we only had 15 and this year we have 32 within Nairobi. Of course, we plan to expand it to other eight regions demarcated by Kenya Secondary School Sports Association,” the president said.
Alwanga added: “When you look at the youth division, the high school, the same kind of numbers. So percentage wise, from last year to this year, we are shooting up to 60 percent in terms of growth in talent, increased number of competition and participation across board.”
The seeds of flag football were planted in 2012 via a pilot programme at the University of Nairobi.
After a decade of lull, efforts to grow the sport picked up again in 2023 thanks to a week-long training programme by the National Football League (NFL) International — in partnership with KFAF.
The programme targeted boys and girls aged 13-years across 10 primary schools within the capital.
Taking stock of the journey, Alwanga believes the introduction of flag football to the young ones was a masterstroke, causing the sport to spread like a wildfire across Kenya.
“The response has been impressive for us as a federation because when NFL came in the country in 2023, we did not have any primary schools playing. Since then, we did a pilot with 10 primary schools and it exploded to 32 primary schools within Nairobi. When you look at the universities at the time, we were playing a lot of tackle programs but since then, you know, NFL came on board. We’ve had an expansion of universities playing and it’s just not within Nairobi because you have teams even from Western Kenya,” he said.
The country recently hosted the third edition of the NFL Flag Football Championships at the Nyayo Stadium.
It was a competition with a difference in which — for the first time — five nations competed for honours in the men and women’s categories as well as in the youth division.
The national men’s team finished fourth after losing in overtime to South Africa — following a 13-13 deadlock in regular time.
On the other, their female counterparts walked away with bronze — thrashing South Africa 44-0 in their final fixture.
Alwanga believes the three-day competition provided the federation with valuable lessons to apply to grow the sport.
“This is the first time we have these new athletes or rather the new national teams playing as a unit against very competitive nations. You know, Nigeria is the current continental champions. Egypt is number two and we had close games with them. We could have won those games. Unfortunately, they got the best of us from that,” he observed.
Alwanga added: “What we are picking up from everything is just that we need to be a little bit more driven towards keeping the focus in the game. We need to iron out all the issues when it comes to how we need to defend, how we need to approach the game strategically and make sure we’re also managing the clock because it’s a very strategic game.”
Going forward, Alwanga is asking for more of the same — close partnerships from all stakeholders, including the government who have been pivotal to the gains made so far.
“The government has been very helpful to us. The Ministry of Education, of course, it has given us letters to endorse the program, doing pilot programs in schools. It has given us the momentum to push the sport out in primary and high schools. Last year, the Ministry of Sports, last year they did help us out a lot to send the team to Cairo to represent Kenya,” he concluded.
With flag football set to debut at the Olympics — starting at Los Angeles 2028 — there is more than enough motivation to grow the sport and pick it up within the country.
Will all stakeholders maintain or up the intensity that has seen it make huge strides thus far? Only time will tell.
