Thika United Football Club

Thika United Football Club is one of the youngest teams in the top flight of Kenyan football. Formed in the year 2000 as Beirut FC, the team was formed solely with the main aim of keeping the youths away from the streets and various criminal activities such as drug use. This idea was originated by former Kenyan players who came together to form a football club just within the outskirts of this Kenya's industrial town, which was the main reason behind naming the team, the Birmingham team of Kenyan football. The current name, Thika United, was adopted three years into the existence of the young football club. This was the year that they first tasted the top flight of Kenyan football.

Promotion to the Top Flight for the First Time in 2003

Just after three years into its existence, Thika United football club was promoted into the top flight of the Kenyan premier league. Given its little experience and lack of a moving fan base, the club sailed through at the backdrop of sheer grit, a wise investment in players and coaching staff, as well as the determination that the club instils in every person that becomes its member. Lack of experience in the top flight did not deter the club's ambition of mixing with the established names in Kenyan football. One of the main driving forces behind the club's promotion to the top flight was the fact that the club is based in Thika town, the industrial town of East Africa. This background enabled the club's board members to negotiate a deal with its first sponsor Medisca, which is an Italian Pharmaceutical company, as well as Italian sports designers Kappa.

This amazing sponsorship deal, one of its kind in Kenyan football at the time lasted for two years before Thika United signed a new sponsorship deal with Brookside Dairy Limited, which is among the biggest and most established milk companies in the country. It was through the help of the management of Brookside Dairy Limited that Thika United was able to negotiate another sponsorship deal with Umbro, a world-renowned sports equipment manufacturer.

Deeply-Rooted Youth Programs

In line with the ambition of the founders, keeping youths away from the streets, Thika United has been in the forefront in organizing and running various youth development programs such as the facilitation of feeding programs and conflict resolutions for street children in Thika town and beyond. The club is also widely known for its program in association with its main sponsor Brookside to recruit young and talented players from the national football games. Indeed, this practice has made it be widely known as the club with the most impact in youthful talent in Kenyan football. This is a club that is entirely football-based and has been identified as one of the main contributors of talent to the Kenyan national football squad and its current squad has 6 members in the Kenya national team. It is again through its concentration on the youth that enables the club to contribute almost half of the current members of the under 20 and under 17 national sides in Kenya. Going by its vision, there can be no denying that Thika United is a future force in the Kenyan premier league, as well as Africa club competitions.