Murang'a SEAL

St Sebastian Park in Murang'a doubles as the SportPesa Arena, a 6,000-seat ground the club shares its identity with sponsor-wise as much as geographically — Murang'a SEAL, formally registered as Murang'a Sports Excellence Academy Limited, plays out of a county rather than a single city, and the park sits at the centre of that arrangement.

The academy behind the club took shape in 2016, built with promotion rather than tradition in mind, and it took until the 2022/23 season for that plan to show results: M-Seal, as they're known locally, won the Kenya National Super League, the country's second tier, and went up to the Kenyan Premier League on the back of it. It remains the one honour in the cabinet.

Derby weekends belong to Shabana FC. The fixture is sold as the SportPesa Derby, a name that leans on the same sponsor as the ground itself, and it carries more weight locally than anything else on the calendar. Games against Gor Mahia draw a different kind of intensity — not a derby in the strict sense, but the kind of match that can decide where a season ends up in the table.

In the top flight M-Seal are still finding their level. A first Super League title got them through the door; the Kenyan Premier League itself, along with the FKF Cup and FKF Shield Cup, remain untouched.