While Collins Sichenje’s multi-million shilling move to England is a triumph for the player, it is a damning indictment of the financial illiteracy plaguing Kenyan football management.

The Harambee Stars defender has completed a sensational transfer to Charlton Athletic, a deal worth a reported 290 million Kenyan shillings. Yet, AFC Leopards, the club that gave him his platform, will watch this windfall bypass their bank accounts entirely. This is not just bad luck; it is a structural failure in how Kenyan clubs conduct the business of football.

The Sell-On Clause Blunder

The devil is in the details, or in this case, the missing details. When AFC Leopards sold Sichenje to Swedish side AIK in 2022, they accepted a modest fee of approximately 5 million Kenyan shillings. Crucially, they failed to insert a sell-on clause—a standard contractual stipulation that entitles the selling club to a percentage of future transfer fees. It is a rookie error in the global transfer market, one that separates the feeder clubs that thrive from those that merely survive.

Contrast this with FK Vojvodina, the Serbian club that just sold him to Charlton. They reportedly negotiated a 20 percent sell-on clause. This means if Sichenje moves again to a Premier League giant, the Serbians will cash in once more without lifting a finger. Kenyan clubs, meanwhile, are left fighting for scraps, relying on complex "solidarity payments" that are often difficult to enforce and amount to a pittance compared to transfer percentages.

• The Solidarity Mirage: While FIFA rules provide for solidarity contributions to clubs that trained a player between ages 12 and 23, the process of claiming these funds is bureaucratic and often yields disappointing returns for African clubs.
• The Green Commandos Factor: Kakamega High School’s Green Commandos, where Sichenje began, are also victims of this ecosystem, likely to receive only a token acknowledgment for nurturing a talent now valued at nearly 300 million shillings.
• Systemic Negligence: This incident highlights a broader lack of legal and commercial expertise within the Kenya Premier League, where short-term cash injections are consistently prioritized over long-term asset management.

A Wake-Up Call for the KPL

Sichenje’s trajectory—from Kakamega to Nairobi, Sweden, Finland, Serbia, and now London—is the dream path for every Kenyan footballer. But for the clubs, it should be a lesson in economics. The current model, where players leave for free or for nominal fees without future protections, is unsustainable. It turns Kenyan clubs into charitable nurseries for European profiteers.

AFC Leopards management must now answer difficult questions from their membership. How did a talent of this magnitude slip through their fingers with no long-term financial interest attached? As Sichenje dons the Charlton jersey, the celebration in Nairobi is muted by the realization of what could have been—a transformative injection of capital that was signed away years ago.