How AFC Leopards Chairman Boniface Ambani Wants to Boost Kenya’s 2027 AFCON Preparations Via KSL Facility Upgrade

When Boniface Ambani took over as chairman of AFC Leopards, one of Kenya’s most storied football clubs, he was shocked by what he found: no proper training facility, wasted resources, and a club that, like many others in the country, lacked a true home.

For him, the situation is symbolic of the deeper structural problems facing Kenyan football.

Speaking on Sporty FM in a recent guest appearance, Ambani was highlighting his manifesto for the club which won him the elections held last June, with one of his key pillars being about finally making the club have state-of-the-art facilities.

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“This issue has been around for a very long time,” Ambani said. “And it’s not just AFC Leopards — many clubs in Kenya don’t have a place they can truly call home. It’s quite sad. 

“As a team, we need to have a proper home. And when I say that, I don’t mean just a stadium. I’m talking about a training center — a facility that can accommodate everything a club needs to operate at a professional level.”

When Ambani stepped into office, he discovered that the club had abandoned a cost-effective partnership with the Kenya School of Law (KSL), where training sessions cost just 1,300 shillings. 

Instead, previous management was paying 12,000 shillings per day to use facilities at Starehe Boys’ Center  for only two hours of training — an expense that ballooned to nearly 4.6 million shillings annually.

“On my first day in office, someone reminded me about the Kenya School of Law,” he recalls. “The very next day, I went there, met the directors, and they were very happy to revive the partnership. 

“We closed the facility for renovations, investing about 500,000 shillings to restore it. Now, under the new deal, we will pay 1,600 shillings per day — meaning the total cost for a season will be around 560,000. That’s a huge saving compared to 4.6 million.”

For Ambani, it’s not just about saving money, but about laying the foundations for long-term sustainability.

Kenya is set to co-host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations alongside Uganda and Tanzania, but Ambani fears the country isn’t doing enough to prepare, especially when it comes to training facilities.

During the 2024 African Nations Championships (CHAN) , Kenya offered the Ulinzi Sports Complex, Police Sacco Stadium and both Kasarani Annexes as training venues. There was a chance to use the Kirigiti Stadium, but it was not deemed ready in time for the tournament.

Now even as Kenya is in the process of completing the Talanta Sports City, which will also have three training venues within the premises at the  Jamhuri Grounds in Nairobi, Ambani believes upgrading KSL to international standards will not only help AFC Leopards, but also the nation for the continental showpiece in two-years’ time.

“The real problem is training grounds,” he warned when explaining why Kenya has no capacity to host events on its own. “When teams come for AFCON, they won’t be training at the main stadiums used for matches — those pitches must be preserved for the games. So, where will visiting teams train? That’s where Kenya has struggled.”

He points to past failures as evidence: “During the CHAN tournament, Nairobi was supposed to host, but it was moved to Zanzibar because of our lack of facilities. The truth is, Kenya as a country can host AFCON on its own, even without support from other nations. We are capable.

“But are we doing enough to prepare? No, not yet. The government just needs to partner with existing facilities and bring them up to international standards.”

Ambani wants to elevate AFC Leopards nto a model sports club, comparable to North Africa’s giants.

“We want to transform AFC Leopards into a full sports club, to operate at that higher level, not just survive on name alone,” he explains. “I’ve visited clubs in North Africa — Al Ahly in Egypt, big teams in Morocco — and their structures are so advanced. They have everything in place, and those clubs are used as a yardstick across the continent. That’s the standard we should be aiming for.”

His experiences abroad have sharpened his resolve: “Traveling to North African and European countries has shown me what football can really be when run professionally. Then you come back home, and you see how far we still have to go. That contrast is what drives me. I want AFC Leopards, and Kenyan football as a whole, to rise to that level.”

For Ambani, the KSL facility upgrade is just the beginning. It’s a statement of intent — that AFC Leopards is ready to professionalize, cut waste, and lead by example. But on a bigger scale, he sees it as part of a national effort that must be accelerated if Kenya is to host a successful AFCON in 2027.

“We already have facilities,” he insists. “We just need to partner with them, invest wisely, and make them fit for purpose. If we do that, Kenya can not only host AFCON successfully but also create a legacy that lifts our football for generations to come.”