*Undated
Bandari FC are currently 4th in the league table having lost only 1 game in 12 matches. Of course the players have had an impactful role to the team's overall outstanding performance, so is the tactician behind the formidable squad.
Coach Cassa Mbungo is slowly cementing his place in Kenyan football as one of the best managers currently having hailed from Rwanda.
Certainly, Mbungo's success is not coming on a silver platter. It is something he has assiduously worked for in his nearly three decades in the dugout of various teams including Rayon Sports, SC Kiyovu, AS Kigali and Police to name a few.
Just like many coaches, Mbungo played the game but not to the highest level as he had to retire even before getting to his prime in order to enter coaching in 1994.
Born in January 1968, Mbungo featured as a goalkeeper for three Burundian clubs; Dynamo FC, Atletico and Flamingo before hanging his gloves to embark on his coaching career at age 26.
He handled a host of academies in the neighbouring country before APR, Rwanda’s most successful club, appointed him as head of their youth team from 1998 to 2002 where he groomed the likes of legendary striker Olivier Karekezi.
To date, Mbungo is the only tactician to ever guide two different clubs to the Peace Cup glory; AS Kigali in 2013 and Police in 2015.
Despite coaching various amateur and academy clubs in Burundi, Mbungo's real taste of top professional action with a foreign club came in 2019 when Kenya’s AFC Leopards named him as their head coach.
Despite a bright side to his Leopards career, he had to resign in just a year as the club was owing him huge sums of money in salary and match allowances. He took a short break from coaching and resurfaced after almost six months at Bandari FC.
Mbungo, in the space of just one year, has made the coastal city outfit a force to reckon with as he has instilled winning mentality in the boys and has noticeably honed their talents. The 'Dockers' have won six games so far this season, drawn five and lost one are fourth on the league log with 23 points and a game at hand.
They remain one of the best teams in the Kenyan Premier League and continue to challenge for the league title, a feat that would make Mbungo an obvious candidate for best coach of the season.