Kenya’s foremost striker over the past decade is undoubtedly Michael Olunga.
No other Harambee Stars player has scored more international goals than him over this period.
Playing for Qatari top club, Al Duhail, the 30-year-old, left-footed, lanky hitman started his professional career at Thika United before moving to local giants, Gor Mahia.
He was good enough to chase his fame and fortune abroad, first with Djurgardens IF (Sweden), disbanded Guizhou Zhicheng FC (China), Girona (Spain) and Kashiwa Reysol (Japan) before settling at Al-Duhail in 2021.
" Michael Olunga became both the first Kenyan player and the first Girona player to score a hat-trick in La Liga."
Nicknamed “Engineer”, Olunga has smashed several scoring records. Just this month he became Al-Duhail all-time top scorer with 121 goals.
He was instrumental in Al-Duhail’s triumph in the 2022/23 Qatar Star League, netting 22 goals to retain the Golden Boot award he scooped the previous season when he notched 24 goals.
Last year, Olunga was also the top scorer in the Ooredoo Cup with 10 goals as Al-Duhail lifted the trophy.
Olunga won the 2020 J1 League Player of the Year and Golden Boot with 28 goals for Reysol.
He holds the record for most goals scored by a single player in one match in Japan’s top after netting eight times in their 2019 J2 League match 13-1 win against Kyoto Sanga.
Olunga made history as the first African to become the J1 League Player of the Year and the only second person from Reysol to get the award after Brazilian Leandro Domingues in 2011.
He joined Liberty Sports Academy while studying at Upper Hill School in Nairobi.
He first saw action in the Kenyan Premier League with Tusker before joining Thika United and then Gor, all on loan deals. At Gor in the 2015 season, the sharp shooting ‘Engineer’ netted a club high 19 goals to help the side win a record 15th league title and without losing a single match.
He was headed to Europe when Djurgardens came calling in 2016. He turned out for Girona on loan between 2018 and 2018.
On January 13, 2018, Olunga made his La Liga debut in style, by netting a hat-trick in Girona’s 6-0 rout of Las Palmas. He became both the first Kenyan player and the first Girona player to score a hat-trick in La Liga.
Olunga made his Harambee Stars debut in a friendly international against hosts Seychelles on March 28, 2015. He has netted 30 times for his country.
He scored two of Kenya’s three goals in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.
Olunga was named Kenya captain in 2019 following the retirement of Victor Wanyama.
He owns Homa Bay-based Michael Olunga Football Academy that fields a team in the National Super League.
-Victor Otieno