Municipal de Laayoune and Kenya forward Violet Nanjala drives forward with the ball during their Throne Cup match against Moroccan Division Two side Ain Atiq Temara at Moulay Rachid Stadium in Laayoune on Sunday. Nanjala leads the Moroccan Women’s Championships Division One top scorers chart with 21 strikes.
Harambee Starlets striker Violet Nanjala is on the verge of writing more history in the Moroccan Women’s Championships Division One, the top most women’s football league in the north African country.
Only in her third season with Western Sahara-based Municipal de Laayoune, Nanjala is favourite to clinch this season’s Golden Boot and her second top scorers gong.
Laayoune lie sixth in the 14-team league on 42 points from 25 games and will wrap up their campaign away to relegation-threatened CSST Temara this weekend, where Nanjala is expected to confirm her status as the most lethal woman striker in Morocco.
She currently has 21 goals, followed closely by Benin’s Yolande Gnammi of ITFF Tangier and Mali’s Saliata Diarra of Renaissance Sportive Berkane, both on 20 goals.
She left Kenya Women’s Premier League side Trans Nzoia Falcons for Laayoune in 2022 on a two-year contract but extended her stay with an additional year. He current deal will elapse on May 5.
She had a storming first season in the 24-year-old Moroccan women’s top league putting in 23 goals from 26 matches to emphatically win the Golden Boot.
Despite her excellent performance with Laayoune, five-time league winners, the Harambee Starlets forward, is looking for greener pastures.
"After three seasons with Laayoune, I feel I've made my mark and it is time to pursue new opportunities to grow my career," said the 23-year-old Nanjala on phone from Laayoune, Morocco this week.
"I have already made up my mind to leave at the end of the season, despite Laayoune's offer and interest from other top clubs in this country like AS Forces Armées Royales,” said Nanjala, who also featured for four-time Football Kenya Federation Women's Premier League winners Vihiga Queens.
For now, she wants to finish her Moroccan adventure with a bang.
A good dribbler, blessed with a powerful right shot, she loves taking on defenders and has scored two hat-tricks this season -- in a 3-1 victory against Raja Ain Harrouda at Stade Cheikh Mohamed Laghdaf in Laayoune on Aprial 27 and in a 4-3 win against Renaissance Sportive Berkane last Saturday at the same stadium.
At the beginning of the season, she struggled and doubted she would reach her target of 20 goals.
"Scoring hat tricks did prove useful, since I had given up on chasing the Golden Boot as I had gotten off to a slow start," she admitted.
"We also had a new coach at the beginning of the season whose coaching philosophy we didn't understand. I had a rough time because he kept changing my playing positions, playing as a number 10, 7, and 11 at different times. I failed to understand his philosophy."
Nanjala, sat her Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examination at Misemwa Primary School (Trans Nzoia County) in 2015.
The following year, she received a scholarship to study at Utithi Secondary School (Makueni County) but left after one year, citing the distance from her Trans Nzoia home and the inability of her parents to visit.
With the help of former Kenya international Fred Serenge, she secured a scholarship to Archbishop Njenga Girls (Kakamega County) where she joined in Form Two in 2017. She was part of the school team that won the Chapa Dimba tournament that year.
She played for Archbishop Njenga in the 2018 and 2019 East Africa School Games held in Rwanda and Tanzania respectively.
After finishing secondary school education, Nanjala joined Vihiga in 2021 on a two-month deal, helping them win the inaugural Cecafa Championship in Nairobi, after which they represented the region at the CAF Women's Champions League in Egypt.
She also made her debut for the Harambee Starlets in the same year under coach Charles Okere, who had replaced David Ouma.
She was reluctant to tell how much she earns in Morocco only revealing that the Moroccan Football Federation pays players in all leagues, about Sh50,000 each every month, in addition to what the players earn at their individual clubs.
A far cry from the Kenyan situation where players largely rely on winning allowances, sometimes as little as Sh500 a match.
Nanjala in fact played for Falcons without pay, driven solely by her love for the game.
She has embraced the Moroccan lifestyle and culture.
She enjoys Moroccan cuisine, primarily consisting of familiar staples like rice, chicken, meat, spaghetti, and fish, but misses green vegetables which is scarce there.
"It is a Muslim country, but I dress as I would dress at home, and the people here don't have a problem with it," she stated.
Nanjala dreams of playing in Barcelona someday and leading Harambee Starlets to the World Cup. One goal at a time, it seems.
