Kenya 7s stars set for inaugural Ultimate Sevens Championship draft
- Kenya 7s stars among the elite players set to be drafted this week for the inaugural 2026 Ultimate Sevens Championship.
- Shujaa have 10 players included in the draft, while the Kenya Lionesses have four standout stars on the roster.
- The campaign will feature events in Spain, Wales and France before culminating with the Grand Final at London’s Gtech Community Stadium on September 24.
Kenya 7s stars from the women’s Kenya Lionesses and the men’s Shujaa are among the elite players set to be drafted this week for the inaugural 2026 Ultimate Sevens Championship.
In a draft pool released by the organizers on Monday, August 3, Shujaa have 10 players included in the draft, while the Kenya Lionesses have four standout stars on the roster.
Tony Omondi, Vincent Onyala and Chrisant Ojwang, three of Kenya’s most experienced players in the Shujaa squad, headline the list.
They are joined by Shujaa standouts led by co-captains George Ooro and Samuel Asati, while John Okoth, Kevin Wekesa, Nygel Amaitsa, Patrick Odongo and Festus Shiasi complete the 10-man contingent.
ALSO READ: Rugby Africa President Mensah praises Nairobi after successful HSBC SVNS 2 showcase
On the women’s side, speedster Freshia Odour has been drafted alongside fellow flyer Sinaida Nyachio, with Maureen Muritu and the experienced Sheila Chajira also making the draft pool.
Kenya’s 14 elite players will join a minimum of 120 players from across the globe, featuring some of the world’s best men’s and women’s rugby sevens stars.
The mix includes Olympians, established internationals, and breakout stars from the HSBC SVNS World Series, all in a format crafted to showcase their skill, speed, and athleticism.
What is the Ultimate Sevens Championship?
The Ultimate Sevens is a new private global rugby sevens championship set to launch in September 2026, backed by BIA Sports Group.
Designed to deliver fast-paced, high-impact rugby sevens action, the championship will take place at iconic sporting venues across Europe during its inaugural season.
The campaign will feature events in Spain, Wales and France before culminating with the Grand Final at London’s Gtech Community Stadium on September 24.
ALSO READ: Kenya Rugby Sevens – Kenya 7s squad, stats, fixtures, results, standings and latest news
The competition will feature six founding clubs, each with its own identity representing key global rugby regions.
Each club will field both a 12-player men’s and women’s team, with the two competitions running simultaneously at every venue.
The six clubs competing in the inaugural season are Albion Athletic Sevens Club, Atlantic Novas Sevens Club, Foudre Bleue Sevens Club, Pacific Current Sevens Club, Clan Taran Sevens Club and Sol Feroz Sevens Club.
The six club coaches have already been confirmed, with Philip Snyman leading Clan Taran, Shannon Fraser at Albion Athletic, Kelly Brazier managing Atlantic Novas, Maria Ribera heading Foudre Bleue, Crystal Kaua directing Pacific Current, and Paco Hernández guiding Sol Feroz.
How will the player draft happen, and how could Kenya 7s stars be selected?
The tournament organizers had already directly contracted 24 elite marquee players; 12 men and 12 women ahead of the draft.
These global stars were assigned to franchises before the draft to ensure each club had an even distribution of top-tier talent.
ALSO READ: Explained! Why Rugby, including Kenya 7s, is missing from the 2026 Commonwealth Games
For the remaining players, the Ultimate Sevens Player Draft will allow the six founding clubs to build their squads as lead coaches select from a draft pool featuring some of the most exciting men’s and women’s sevens players in the world.
The draft pool will feature a minimum of 120 eligible players, split equally between the men’s and women’s competitions. Selections will be made over multiple rounds, with lead coaches given a limited time window for every pick.
How will players be assigned?
Before the Player Draft begins, each club will already have two male and two female marquee players allocated.
Each club’s lead coach will then draft the remaining players, with just 45 seconds to make each selection. Every pick will shape the squad.
Each squad will comprise two marquee players, nine elite players and one academy player.
So, how will the selections unfold?
There will be five rounds of drafting in addition to the pre-allocated marquee players. Each club begins with two marquee players.
In Round 1, clubs will select two players, followed by two more in Round 2, another two in Round 3, three players in Round 4 and one academy player in Round 5.
Once the draft is completed, the full squad rosters are expected to be announced before the end of the week.
2026 Ultimate Sevens Championship calendar
The tour kicks off on September 5 at Madrid’s Ontime Butarque Stadium, followed by Round 2 on September 12 at Cardiff Arms Park.
The competition then heads to Parc des Sports Aguilera in Biarritz on September 18 before wrapping up with the Grand Final on September 24 at London’s Gtech Community Stadium.
- Round 1 (Madrid, Spain): Saturday, September 5, 2026 – Ontime Butarque Stadium.
- Round 2 (Cardiff, Wales): Saturday, September 12, 2026 – Cardiff Arms Park.
- Round 3 (Biarritz, France): Friday, September 18, 2026 – Parc des Sports Aguilera.
- Grand Final (London, England): Thursday, September 24, 2026 – Gtech Community Stadium.
Related
PakarPBN
A Private Blog Network (PBN) is a collection of websites that are controlled by a single individual or organization and used primarily to build backlinks to a “money site” in order to influence its ranking in search engines such as Google. The core idea behind a PBN is based on the importance of backlinks in Google’s ranking algorithm. Since Google views backlinks as signals of authority and trust, some website owners attempt to artificially create these signals through a controlled network of sites.
In a typical PBN setup, the owner acquires expired or aged domains that already have existing authority, backlinks, and history. These domains are rebuilt with new content and hosted separately, often using different IP addresses, hosting providers, themes, and ownership details to make them appear unrelated. Within the content published on these sites, links are strategically placed that point to the main website the owner wants to rank higher. By doing this, the owner attempts to pass link equity (also known as “link juice”) from the PBN sites to the target website.
The purpose of a PBN is to give the impression that the target website is naturally earning links from multiple independent sources. If done effectively, this can temporarily improve keyword rankings, increase organic visibility, and drive more traffic from search results.
Harambee Stars end FIFA Series 2026 on a high, beat Spice Boys to finish third
- Grenada vs Kenya third-place playoff in the FIFA Series 2026 saw Harambee Stars secure a 3-0 victory on Monday, March 30.
- The match was staged at Amahoro Stadium in Kigali, Rwanda, where the Group A fixtures were being held.
- Austine Odhiambo, Ryan Ogam, and a deflected effort involving Zech Obiero guided Benni McCarthy’s side back to winning ways, ending the mini tournament on a high note.
Ryan Ogam struck back to back for Harambee Stars as the national team managed to bounce back from their Estonia defeat in the FIFA Series Group A semifinals, cruising past Grenada 3-0 on Monday evening to snatch third place in a mini tournament staged in Kigali, Rwanda.
Ogam, who bagged his eighth goal in a national team shirt – having notched the solo strike for Harambee Stars on Friday against Estonia, where they fell on penalties after a 1-1 draw, continues to make serious noise in the football world comeback after enduring a rough spell in Austria since his transfer there.
Meanwhile, Austine Odhiambo opened the scoring for Kenya, while Zech Obiero, coming off the bench, played a part in the third goal, his strike taking a deflection for an own goal by the Spice Boys forward Vijay VALCIN. Obiero has also made his presence felt with the national team after debuting against Estonia, where he registered an assist.
ALSO READ: Harambee Stars striker Ryan Ogam explains why Estonia performance is a turning point in his career
Although it was a friendly tournament, there was plenty at stake for Harambee Stars, including silverware.
More importantly, as these were FIFA-sanctioned matches, strong results were crucial in improving their current 112th position in the rankings, while Grenada were also looking to climb from 164th place.
Grenada vs Kenya: Harambee Stars end FIFA Series 2026 on a high
Harambee Stars started the match with clear intent from the first minute, and by the sixth minute they had fashioned a promising chance from a set-piece just outside the box. Austine Odhiambo’s attempt was parriedby Grenada custodian Trishawn Malcom for a corner that ultimately came to nothing.
The hosts kept their composure, and in the 12th minute, they drew first blood. Ben Stanley delivered a low cross to Ryan Ogam, who unleashed a long, powerful shot.
Malcom managed to parry it, but the ball slipped out of his reach. Austine Odhiambo, lurking on the right wing, calmly slotted it home to give Benni McCarthy’s charges the lead.
On the left side, Jeremiah Akins whipped in a very dangerous cross into the box, where a prepared Farouk Shikalo was waiting to collect.
Two minutes after that attempt, Harambee Stars bagged their second goal through a well-worked set piece.
Rooney Onyango fired from an Austine cross, the ball deflected toward Stanley’s left side, and Stanley simply let it roll to the edge, where a waiting Ryan Ogam netted his second straight goal of the tournament- also his eighth for the national team.
ALSO READ: Benni McCarthy heaps praise on Gor Mahia defender Frank Odhiambo after exceptional Harambee Stars debut
A minute past the half hour mark, Harambee Stars came close to making it three, but the left-side crossbar denied Austine Odhiambo a brace.
A slick passing sequence saw Clarke Odour feed Ben Stanley, who chipped it for Austine, but his right-footed effort rattled the bar, and they missed the chance to sit comfortably with a two-goal cushion.
Grenada kicked off the second half on a high note, creating a decent chance just two minutes in that fizzled out. However, Kenya pulled themselves back into rhythm and got a clear opportunity in the 50th minute.
Mohammed Bajaber, who came on for Ben Stanley at halftime, latched onto a clever back pass from Austine, but his effort just drifted wide of the goal as the match continued to heat up.
ALSO READ: Harambee Stars vs Estonia Player Ratings: Obiero shines on debut with assist as Odada endures horror show in FIFA Series 2026
The second half didn’t see as much from Harambee Stars, as Benni McCarthy made nine more changes to give everyone a runout.
Still, one goal came from those adjustments. In the 80th minute, Daniel Sakari on the right found William Lenkupae in the box, and Lenkupae simply laid it off to Obiero, who fired a low, loose shot that deflected off Vijay Valcin to add to Harambee Stars’ tally sealing the win and third place in the mini-tournament.
Grenada vs Kenya FIFA Series 2026 third place playoffs lineups
- Harambee Stars: Farouk Shikhalo, Rooney Onyango, Mike Kibwage, Frank Odhiambo, Manzur Okwaro, Duke Abuya, Crispine Erambo, Clarke Odour, Austine Odhiambo, Ben Stanly Omondi, Ryan Ogam.
- Grenada: Trishawn Malcom, Joel Decoteu, Sandiford Junior, Jeremiah Akins, Jordan Francis, Romar Mathew, Josh Patrick, Shavon Owen, Anton Muirhead, Denzil Pierre, Bobby Williams.
Related
PakarPBN
A Private Blog Network (PBN) is a collection of websites that are controlled by a single individual or organization and used primarily to build backlinks to a “money site” in order to influence its ranking in search engines such as Google. The core idea behind a PBN is based on the importance of backlinks in Google’s ranking algorithm. Since Google views backlinks as signals of authority and trust, some website owners attempt to artificially create these signals through a controlled network of sites.
In a typical PBN setup, the owner acquires expired or aged domains that already have existing authority, backlinks, and history. These domains are rebuilt with new content and hosted separately, often using different IP addresses, hosting providers, themes, and ownership details to make them appear unrelated. Within the content published on these sites, links are strategically placed that point to the main website the owner wants to rank higher. By doing this, the owner attempts to pass link equity (also known as “link juice”) from the PBN sites to the target website.
The purpose of a PBN is to give the impression that the target website is naturally earning links from multiple independent sources. If done effectively, this can temporarily improve keyword rankings, increase organic visibility, and drive more traffic from search results.