Kenyan soccer officials have not spoken out publicly on the witchcraft allegations, but privately, local soccer officials say the spells of jujumen, as the witch doctors are called, tend to target good players, scaring some off or making them so disgruntled they leave.
Former national league clubs, such as Feisal, Mombasa Wanderers and Mwenge, have all folded in recent years, while Bandari and Coast Stars have seen a mass exodus of players to other national teams — with some blaming the “occult” atmosphere on the coast.
Even Kenyan supporters suffer fallout from the witchcraft, some of whom have committed suicide after their favorite teams lost matches.
“They will sell their assets, land title deeds or even mortgage themselves to go to the witch doctors to help them win on the bets, which sometimes end very tragically,” sports journalist Sumba Were said.
One man hanged himself and another jumped into the Indian Ocean this year, Were said.
“The cases of people getting so obsessed with these clubs and the amount of betting that goes around them is so alarming,” he said.
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