City Stars: Simba Wa Nairobi Fall Silent As Proud Legacy Fades Into Shadows

A lion forgot how to roar, missed the party, and tripped on the way out — football happened.

Once the pride of Kawangware, a symbol of grit, community, and flair, Nairobi City Stars now bow out of the top tier with their heads low and hearts heavy.

On a grey afternoon that will linger in painful memory, the Simba wa Nairobi played out a goalless draw against Mathare United — a result that sealed their relegation from the Kenyan Premier League on the final day of the 2024–25 season.

It was not the way a lion was meant to go — without a roar, without a fight befitting its name.

Hope Dies at the Thika Stadium

In front of a small but passionate crowd at the Thika Stadium, City Stars needed one thing: victory. The math was simple. Win, and live to fight another season among Kenya’s football elite. But football, cruel and capricious as ever, had other plans.

What unfolded was a 90-minute masterclass in missed chances, heavy touches, and cruel near-misses. It was the kind of match where the ball flirted with the net but never crossed the line.

Fans cried out in frustration, slapped the metal fencing, prayed to ancestors long gone, but the gods of football were silent.

Even Mathare, freshly returned to the top flight after 2022/2023 season relegation, seemed to understand what was at stake for their opponents — and yet still, the ball would not obey Nairobi’s pleading boots

When the final whistle blew, it was not just the end of the match. It was the quiet collapse of a dream.

From Bosnia to Babu – A Wild Ride Ends in a Whimper

The journey that began in 2003 as World Hope FC, filled with promise and philanthropy, evolved through the highs of promotion, the sweetness of cup triumphs, and the occasional flirt with continental football. Under Sarajevo-born Sanjin Alagić, they were reborn, rising like phoenixes from the National Super League in 2019–20.

But fairytales are fickle. Alagić departed. His successors tried. Head coach Salim Babu brought passion and an organized backline, but the team lacked spark where it mattered most.

Perhaps the tragedy lies not in relegation itself, but in how it happened — without scandal, without implosion — just a quiet fade, game after game, draw after draw. By the end, even the team’s mascot Simba seemed to slouch with the sadness of it all.

Some fans tried to laugh through their tears. “Even my grandma moves faster than our strikers today!” one supporter joked, before quietly sitting back down, staring at the empty net.

A Community Grieves, A Legacy Lingers

The pain of relegation is more than a number in the standings. It is a wound in the soul of Kawangware.

For the children who wore the red and white with pride, for the elders who remembered the days of Zico Otieno, for the young journalists inspired by Patrick Korir’s stewardship — this hurts.

The Jonathan Jackson Foundation now faces its toughest challenge yet: to rebuild not just a football team, but a fractured spirit.

Yet there is hope. Always. Because real clubs, community clubs, never die — they just take a season or two to find their feet.