Most football fans see the end result. The big transfer, the headline signing, the superstar performance under lights. What they don’t see is the work done in the shadows. The calls, the negotiations, the battles over perception that make those moments possible.
In East Africa, one of the people doing that work is Edgah Mitemah. At 27, he isn’t just another name on a FIFA agent license. He’s the founder of Soft Touch Management, and he’s becoming one of the most important advocates for a region that global football has spent too long ignoring.
He Saw the Problem From the Inside
Before he was brokering deals, Mitemah was living the reality of an East African player. He turned out professionally for Mathare United and Tusker FC, two of Kenya’s biggest clubs. It was a career many young players in Nairobi would envy. But on the pitch, he saw something most agents miss. The talent wasn’t the problem. The pathway was.
East African players had the technical ability and discipline to compete abroad. What they lacked was representation that understood both their value and the biases of the global market. So at an age when most players are chasing their next contract, Mitemah made a different call. He walked away from playing to fix the system from the outside.
A Bold Entrance That Changed His Trajectory
Most 21-year-olds are still learning the business. Mitemah was already reshaping it. In one of his first major moves, he was instrumental in bringing Spanish coach Pablo Franco to Tanzanian giants Simba SC. This wasn’t a lucky introduction. It was a statement of intent. He had the vision to see that East African clubs needed elite coaching to match their ambition, and the confidence to make it happen.
That deal announced him as more than a local fixer. He could operate at the level of presidents and technical directors, connecting African clubs with European expertise. It also revealed his core belief: to elevate players, you have to elevate the entire football ecosystem around them.
Soft Touch Management: A Different Kind of Agency
After cutting his teeth at Euro Africa Connect, Mitemah launched Soft Touch Management with a philosophy that breaks from the old guard. His view is simple but disruptive. The next generation understands the game differently, and that perspective matters.
Instead of relying on recycled networks and handshake deals, Soft Touch leans into data, player branding, and direct, hands-on career management. The agency isn’t built on volume. It’s built on identifying undervalued assets and giving them the platform to prove global scouts wrong.
The Roster: Players and Coaches Forcing a Rethink
Soft Touch Management’s roster shows the scale of that ambition. On the player side, Mitemah guides a growing group of talents who represent the depth East Africa has to offer: Nigerian forward Evans Iyebi, Kenyan striker Moses Shumah, Harambee Stars goalkeeper Ian Otieno, midfielders Ebuka Anthony and Ayobami Junior, forward Emmanuel Osoro, defenders Levi’s Opiyo and Denis Nya, winger Ayodeji Bamidele, and proven attacker Vincent Oburu. Others like Junior Lokosa and Jesse Were round out a list of players with the quality to play at higher levels if given visibility.
But Mitemah’s influence isn’t limited to players. Soft Touch also manages coaches, because he understands that tactical credibility helps change perception. His coaching roster includes Zambian veteran George Lwandamina, South African tactician Brandon Truter, Moroccan strategist Rachid Taoussi, and Spaniards Pablo Franco and Raul Caneda. Placing these coaches in key roles across Africa sends a message: East Africa is a serious football market, not a charity case.
The Nigerien Blueprint
Mitemah’s track record already includes one of the best case studies for foreign talent in the Ghana Premier League. He once worked with Niger international Victorien Adebayor during his spells at Inter Allies and Legon Cities. Adebayor arrived as an unknown and left as one of the most feared forwards in the league, proving that with the right guidance, overlooked markets can produce undeniable quality. That experience now shapes how Soft Touch approaches every East African prospect.
The Real Opponent: Perception
For all the deals and signings, Mitemah will tell you his toughest opponent isn’t another agent. It’s perception. African football still operates under a hierarchy that’s rarely questioned.
Clubs in North Africa and South Africa often default to West African players based on reputation alone. East African talent is routinely dismissed, regardless of performance data. FIFA and CAF rankings, which are skewed by infrastructure gaps more than ability, reinforce the bias. A Kenyan striker can score 20 goals, but a Ghanaian with 8 will get the call-up abroad. That’s not football logic. That’s market bias.
More Than an Agent — A Market Correction
This is what makes Edgah Mitemah and Soft Touch Management different. They’re not just moving players. They’re forcing a market correction.
His work is about structure and strategy. It’s about compiling data on East African players so clubs can’t claim “we didn’t know.” It’s about getting coaches like Franco and Caneda into the region so local players learn systems that translate abroad. It’s about making sure the next Moses Shumah or Ian Otieno doesn’t need a miracle to be seen.
Why This Story Matters Now
Because this isn’t just one agent’s rise. It’s a test case for an entire region. East Africa has the passion, the population, and the raw talent to be a global football exporter. What it’s lacked is internal advocates with the networks and nerve to challenge the status quo.
Soft Touch Management is becoming that advocate. And if Mitemah continues on this path, the conversation changes. The next generation of East African players won’t have to fight to be noticed. They’ll be expected.
The narrative was that East Africa was undervalued. Edgah Mitemah is making sure it doesn’t stay that way.
