Like fine wine Allan Wanga matures with age

By lifting the SportPesa Premier League title with Tusker on Sunday, Allan Wanga completed a remarkable rarity among the current pool of Kenyan players.

The boy from Shiatsala in Kakamega County won the league title twice with the same club but in two different spells separated by nine years as well as several other honours across to continents.

His first league conquest came in his debut season in 2007 when he bagged 23 goals for the brewers’ en-route to claiming the Golden Boot award.

Fast forward to 2016, after a nine-year wait, the 30-year-old Wanga has again wrote another chapter in his playing career emerging as one of the most decorated Kenyan footballers. At last count he had bagged 11 titles locally and abroad.

On Sunday, he came off the bench to put the icing on the cake with a magical free kick that sailed into the net in the 77th minute to hand Tusker a 1-0 win against deposed champions Gor Mahia at Nyayo Stadium  as they were crowned kings of Kenyan football.

The strike increased his season’s tally to five.

He left the Kenyan Premier League in December 2007 for Angolan club Petro Atletico. There, he helped them claim the league honours in his debut season scoring nine goals. In the succeeding season, Petro retained the trophy with Wanga scoring eight goals.

Itching for more conquest, the restless Wanga left Angola in 2010 for a new challenge in Azerbaijan with FC Baku.

He returned home to join Sofapaka on a loan deal in 2010 where he scored four goals as Batoto Ba Mungu claimed the GOtv Shied Cup. The quick footed Wanga would later join Hagl FC in Vietnam in 2011 helping them win the domestic cup with his 10 goals.

In 2013, fulfilled his childhood dream of playing for AFC Leopards, a club which his father Frank Wetende turned out for.

He featured prominently at the Leopards lair as they claimed the GOtv Shield with 11 goals under his belt in the campaign. The same season, he bagged the Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup.

The lethal Wanga scored twice for Harambee Stars in a epic final against Sudan’s Falcons at a rain drenched Nyayo Stadium on December 12, 2013.

Wanga would later move to Sudanese giants El-Merreikh in 2014 where he starred in the Cecafa Club Championship scoring the lone goal for the Red Devils as they downed host club APR in the final in Kigali.

In 2015, he retained the same trophy with Azam of Tanzanian after his club saw off a spirited challenge from Gor Mahia winning 2-1.

“I’m looking forward to more accomplishments especially in the Champions League next season and with the national team,” the soft spoken Wanga said.