Neddy Atieno explains coming out of 5-year retirement to feature for 4th-tier side Kahawa Pride

When Neddy Atieno announced her retirement from football in 2021 after her stint with Ulinzi Starlets, many believed Kenyan women’s football had seen the last of one of its most experienced and influential forwards.

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But football, as Neddy now admits, never truly left her.

This year, the former Harambee Starlets striker has made a surprising return to the pitch with Kahawa Pride FC Lionesses, a side competing in the FKF Nairobi East Women’s Regional League. Her return, however, is about far more than goals and appearances.

It is about mentorship, leadership, community and building a sustainable future for women’s football.

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And while many expected the regional league to be a quieter phase of her football journey, Neddy has quickly reminded Kenyan football of her quality. She has already scored nine goals in six matches for the Lionesses, who currently sit top of the FKF Nairobi East Women’s Regional League standings.

For a player who once terrorised defenders in the FKF Women's Premier League and on the international stage, the instinct has clearly not faded.

“I was already part of Kahawa Pride even during my active playing days. Kahawa Pride always felt like another home to me because I used to come around for mentorship sessions,” said Atieno in an interview with the club.

“I felt it was important to come back and become a role model for the team because there were very many promising young players who needed guidance and mentorship from someone experienced.”

The move marks yet another chapter in the career of one of Kenya’s most recognisable women footballers.

Neddy built her reputation as a prolific forward in 2011, earning a call-up to the Kenya Under-20 women’s team while still in high school at Tartar Girls and by 2014, she had made it to the senior national team, marking the start of her career.

She went on to play for Makolanders, the Kenya Methodist University (KeMU) and back to Makolanders before joining Ulinzi Starlets in 2017.

At the national team level, she became one of the standout figures for Harambee Starlets during a significant era for women’s football in Kenya. She was part of the historic Kenyan squad that qualified for the 2016 Women's Africa Cup of Nations, the country’s maiden appearance at the continental tournament.

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Neddy’s impact in national colours extended beyond appearances. In 2021, after earning a recall to the national team, she produced a stunning performance against South Sudan in the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, scoring four goals across the two-legged tie, including a hat-trick in the first leg at Nyayo Stadium.

Yet despite the accolades, Neddy says her decision to return to football was not driven purely by competition.

“Coming back here feels like coming back home. It is family. The reception has been amazing,” she said.

“Now that I am one of the senior figures in the team, I want to guide the young girls, help them understand the game better and also prepare them for life outside football.”

That dual responsibility is perhaps what makes this comeback unique.

At Kahawa Pride, Neddy is not only a player but also serves as the project lead for the Lionesses programme, a role that places her at the centre of the club’s wider vision of community development and women's empowerment through football.

For her, football development cannot only focus on performances on the pitch.

“One of the special things about Kahawa Pride is how the club interacts with the community off the pitch,” she explained.

“When teams engage communities through activities like fun days and outreach programmes, they attract support and even potential sponsors. Women’s football especially thrives when communities are involved.”

It is a philosophy shaped by her own experiences within the game.

Over the years, Neddy has openly spoken about the structural challenges facing women’s football in Kenya, from financial instability to a lack of professional support systems for female athletes.

“The biggest challenge is how women’s football is managed. It is still not being run professionally enough,” she said.

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“Even at the top tier, clubs and players still face serious financial constraints and many operational challenges.”

Her concerns go deeper than administration.

Neddy believes many talented girls are lost during adolescence because of inadequate mentorship and a lack of understanding about the physical and mental demands female athletes face.

“We lose many players between the ages of 13 and 15 because that is a very sensitive adolescent stage,” she explained.

“We also need proper education for coaches on how the female body functions. Female athletes go through different physical changes, and coaches need to understand that.”

Those experiences partly inspired her community initiative, Neddy for the Needy, which she launched in 2018 to support underprivileged children in accessing education.

Away from football, she has also served in football administration, including roles within Football Kenya Federation structures, underlining her growing influence beyond the pitch.

Now at Kahawa Pride, she hopes to combine all those experiences into building a long-term project.

“Our vision is very clear; promotion to the Premier League,” she said confidently.

“We want to build a strong support system involving staff, players and the community. I believe within the next three years, Kahawa Pride can reach the FKF Women's Premier League.”

The ambition does not sound unrealistic.

Kahawa Pride Lionesses have started the season strongly, with Neddy leading from the front both as a mentor and a goal scorer. Her leadership presence has added experience to an ambitious young squad eager to climb Kenyan football’s competitive ladder.

Still, Neddy knows changing perceptions around women’s football may be the toughest challenge of all.

“If I could change one thing in women’s football, it would be the mentality people have towards the women’s game,” she said.

“Sometimes when people are invited to watch women’s matches, they respond dismissively, and that can be heartbreaking. If more people genuinely appreciated the value and quality in women’s football, that would become a major turning point for the game in Kenya.”

For now, though, she is focused on one mission: helping Kahawa Pride grow into more than just a football club.

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And in the process, one of Kenya’s most recognisable women football figures is proving that retirement was never really the end of her story.