{"id":210622,"date":"2025-12-25T18:34:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T18:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/210622\/"},"modified":"2025-12-25T18:34:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T18:34:10","slug":"passion-over-pay-the-untold-struggles-of-nsl-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/210622\/","title":{"rendered":"Passion over pay \u2014The untold struggles of NSL players"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> But as the saying goes,<br \/>\n\u201con the ground, things are different.\u201d Behind the flair and finesse lies a<br \/>\nreality marked by modest pay, financial struggles, and unwavering belief.<br \/>\u200e<br \/>\u200eLeading the NSL scoring charts is Syphas Otieno of Migori Youth, a forward<br \/>\nwhose goals have earned him admiration across the league. Yet, Syphas<br \/>\napproaches his success with a mix of humor and honesty.<br \/>\u200e<br \/>\u200eSpeaking to Citizen Digital, he quips that if goals were paid in cash, he<br \/>\nwould be wealthy, but in truth, he survives on very little. His dream is clear:<br \/>\nto use his time at Migori Youth as a stepping stone to bigger clubs, perhaps<br \/>\neven giants like Real Madrid.<br \/>\u200e<br \/>\u200e&#8221;I&#8217;m not at Migori Youth for money but exposure. This club provides a<br \/>\nplatform to grow, get established sell yourself to bigger clubs,&#8221; he said.<br \/>\u200e<br \/>\u200eAnother story of resilience comes from Elix Otieno, the dependable goalkeeper<br \/>\nfor Naivas FC. The little he earns from football helps support him and his<br \/>\nfamily, a responsibility he carries with quiet determination.<br \/>\u200e<br \/>\u200e&#8221;It is never enough but we&#8217;re managing the little we&#8217;re getting here. I<br \/>\nhave family, do the little I earn here and from other businesses puts food on<br \/>\nour table,&#8221; Elix said.<br \/>\u200e<br \/>\u200eElix once ran a small business to supplement his income, but it has since shut<br \/>\ndown. This setback has only fueled his commitment on the pitch, where every<br \/>\nsave is a testament to his belief that better days are ahead.<br \/>\u200e<br \/>\u200e&#8221;I cannot say it is enough. I&#8217;m playing hoping that one day things will<br \/>\nwork out for better,&#8221; he added.<br \/>\u200e<br \/>\u200eIn Bungoma County, Felix Seda of Nzoia shares similar sentiments. For him,<br \/>\nfootball is a labor of love\u2014driven not by financial comfort but by passion and<br \/>\nthe hope that opportunities will eventually open up.<br \/>\u200e<br \/>\u201cWe\u2019re playing for passion and for the exposure the league gives us. If I told<br \/>\nyou what I earn, you would be surprised,\u201d Seda admitted.<br \/>\u200e<br \/>\u200eTogether, the experiences of Syphas, Elix, and Felix paint a vivid picture of<br \/>\nthe NSL: a league powered by determination, talent, and heart. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"But as the saying goes, \u201con the ground, things are different.\u201d Behind the flair and finesse lies a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":210623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[72,191,61,60,109770,109769,109771],"class_list":{"0":"post-210622","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entrepreneurship","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-entrepreneurship","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-migori-youth","13":"tag-nsl","14":"tag-syphas-otieno"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}