- St. Joseph’s Girls Kitale have won their first-ever KSSSA national football title, beating Nyakach Girls 8-7 on penalties after a 1-1 draw.
- St. Joseph’s have avenged their group-stage defeat to Nyakach, who had beaten them 2-0 earlier in the tournament.
- The champions have secured a place at the FEASSSA Games in Morogoro, Tanzania, as one of Kenya’s representatives.
St. Joseph’s Girls Kitale have been crowned the 2026 Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association (KSSSA) National Term Two girls’ football champions after defeating former champions Nyakach Girls 8-7 in a dramatic penalty shootout following a 1-1 draw after extra time at the M-Pesa Foundation Academy in Thika on Thursday.
The victory marked a historic milestone for the Trans Nzoia-based school, which lifted the national girls’ football title for the first time after surviving a tense final against the experienced Nyakach side.
The two teams could not be separated during normal time or the additional 30 minutes of extra time, forcing the match into penalties.
St. Joseph’s converted seven of their first eight spot-kicks before calmly dispatching the decisive penalty after Nyakach missed their eighth attempt.
St. Joseph’s had booked their place in the final with a narrow 1-0 victory over former champions Archbishop Njenga Girls of Western Region in the semi-finals.
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Purity Nechesa scored the all-important goal that sent her side into the championship match.
Head coach Francis Ojilo had anticipated a difficult encounter, especially after Nyakach defeated his team 2-0 in the opening group-stage match. He remained confident that his players would learn from that setback and rise to the occasion.
“It was always going to be a tough final because we know each other well. The girls showed resilience, discipline and great determination to overcome a very strong opponent,” said Ojilo after the victory.
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Nyakach Girls, themselves former national champions, convincingly reached the final after thrashing Raila Education Centre 4-0 in the semi-finals.
The triumph completes a remarkable turnaround for St. Joseph’s, who avenged their earlier loss to Nyakach to claim the national crown. The victory also secures their place as one of Kenya’s representatives at the forthcoming Federation of East Africa Secondary Schools Sports Association (FEASSSA) Games in Morogoro, Tanzania, where they will seek to extend their impressive run on the regional stage.
By Jeff Kirui
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