The rise of Eastleigh's Burhan Football Club

It was not difficult for Hussein “Terry” Ali to find the perfect name for his team when he founded Burhan Football Club in 2007.

“My mates and I were staying in Burhan Estate and almost everything around us, from shops to supermarkets and from pharmacies to hospitals, was named Burhan. There were even hardware stores and hotels with that name and we thought, Why not add a football club to that collection?” Terry, as he is popularly known in Eastleigh football circles, tells me as we chat in a restaurant inside Eastleigh’s BBS Mall.

Terry's alias is a throwback to his playing days, when his leadership and playing style drew comparisons to former Chelsea captain John Terry.

“I am not bragging when I say I was a good defender and that is how I stopped being Hussein Ali and became known as Terry in tribute to John Terry of Chelsea. My mates figured we had similar attributes, and since I also supported Chelsea, Terry became my nickname,” Terry, who is the founder, owner, and coach of Burhan FC, says.

Terry was 18 years old when he founded Burhan Football Club with 14 or so other boys, having arrived in Nairobi from his birthplace, Mandera, in 2004. Since then, Burhan Football Club has grown to comprise 172 players split across the club’s various age group football teams: Under 4, Under 9, Under 11, Under 15, Under 18, and the senior team.

“Abdulaziz “Bonge” Mahmoud helps with coaching the junior sides. We work together and he is my assistant coach for the senior team,” Terry says.

The Burhan FC senior team currently competes in Zone B of the FKF Eastern Zone Division Two leagues but when they started, they mostly featured in inter-state football tournaments.

“Until 2017, when we made the decision to join the football pyramid at the FKF Sub-County League level, we mostly competed in football tournaments organised within our neighbourhood. Most were 7-a-side tournaments and after winning so many trophies, we felt ready to compete in the FKF leagues,” Terry says.

Burhan received promotions to the FKF Nairobi East County League in 2019 and the FKF Nairobi Regional League in 2022. Competing in the FKF Nairobi Regional League saw Burhan clash with Umulqura FC, one of the four Eastleigh-based teams, including Burhan, which compete in the FKF Division Two leagues. The other two teams are Eastleigh Youth and Walalah FC.

“We met Umulqura when we played in the Regional Leagues and it was an explosive encounter since we are neighbours. We won 1-0 and even though we have not played each other since, we consider Umulqura one of our biggest rivals.” Terry says.

Burhan and Umulqura share Pangani Primary School as their home ground, with Burhan using it for training on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.

“Burhan and Umulqura have an arrangement with the management of Pangani Primary School to use their football pitch for training and playing games on matchdays. We have trained and played our matches at Pangani Primary School since inception,” Terry says.

Burhan and Umulqura have not renewed their rivalry because the two teams currently play in different zones in the FKF Eastern Zone Division Two leagues. The FKF Eastern Zone Division Two has six leagues: Zone A, Zone B, Zone C, Zone D, Zone E, and Zone F. Burhan is in Zone B and Umulqura is in Zone C.

Burhan earned promotion to the FKF Eastern Zone Division Two league last year and Terry targets seeing the club compete in the FKF National Super League within the next five years.

“Football is a challenging sport, especially at the grassroots. The sport is so competitive at this level and we appreciate the value of slow and steady growth so our target is to be competing in the NSL by 2029 or 2030,” he says. To achieve that, Terry, who currently splits his time between Burhan and working at a chocolate factory as a supervisor, hopes to upgrade his CAF D coaching licence.

“Upgrading my CAF D coaching licence will surely help me get Burhan Football Club to rise to the levels I aspire to see them play at. I hope to find some time this year or next year to do the CAF C Coaching course.”

He reckons that the club has been able to rise to Division Two in just seven years because they have been able to hold on to most of their players, most of whom are between 17 and 25 years old.

“My captain, Yahya “Adebayor” Abdukadir, has been with us since 2013. He joined us when he was around 14 years old. There are many other players who have been with us since they were young boys and that cohesion has helped us a lot.”

At the moment, Burhan has produced only one player who currently plays in the FKF Premier League with the Nairobi City Stars.

“Byron Otieno was our goalkeeper at one time before progressing to joining the Nairobi City Stars in the FKF Premier League,” Terry says.

He believes that Burhan can make the same progress as Byron if sponsors and Eastleigh leaders invest more in sporting facilities.

“At the moment, Burhan is staying afloat because of my efforts and those of former Burhan players who contribute money monthly to help the club meet its expenses. We are not able to give players a decent allowance at the moment but if we get someone to sponsor us, we can increase the allowance we give our players. We only give them enough to meet their transport to training and back home.”

“Also, it would help football in Eastleigh a lot if we got more decent football pitches to play and train on. When it rains, most of these pitches become muddy, making them unusable. We want to develop good players and having good playing and training facilities will help us a lot,” Terry adds.

Burhan, having won the Eastleigh Ramadan Cup in 2021, faces the risk of relegation to the FKF Nairobi Regional League. They are 14th in the 15-team FKF Eastern Zone Division Two Zone B league with one win and three draws from 10 matches. The bottom six teams will get relegated at the end of the season and Terry hopes to turn the situation around in the second leg with some new signings.

“We hope to sign some central midfielders and wingbacks to help bounce back in the second leg and keep our dream of staying in Division Two alive.”

Burhan FC captain Yahya "Adebayor" Abdukadi in action in a past match. Photo courtesy

On the club’s logo, the words “Burhan Football” and “Club” are separated and surrounded by a black circle. “Burhan Football” is curved above a sky blue circle under which “Club” rests. Inside the blue circle of the sky, a black lion wearing a crown and a unicorn stand over a football. Three white lines encircle the football, giving it the appearance of a plane on the runway. Terry hopes the club will live up to the imagery on its logo.

“Burhan Football Club has to rise to the top and establish itself as a unique football club. We will fight like lions until we get there,” Terry concludes.