Peter ''Pinchez'' Opiyo Odhiambo, is a Kenyan

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, currently in the ranks of

Kenyan Premier League The Kenyan Premier League (KPL), officially known as the FKF Premier League, is a professional league for men's football clubs in Kenya. Standing at the top of the Kenyan football league system, the league was formed in 1963 under the Kenya Foo ...

side Nairobi City Stars. He previously played for other Kenyan topflight clubs including Tusker, A.F.C. Leopards, Thika United with loan spells at Gor Mahia. He also turned out for Finnish

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga () is a professional association football league in Finland and the highest level of the Finnish football league system. The league comprises the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agenc ...

sides

FF Jaro Fotbollsföreningen Jaro (''Jakobstads Rostfria''), commonly known simply as Jaro, is a Finnish professional football club based in the bilingual town of Jakobstad. The club currently plays in Veikkausliiga, the top tier in Finland. History Ja ...

and SJK.

Club career

Opiyo began his youth career with Tusker and signed for Thika United in January 2008. After only one year with Thika United, he moved to Gor Mahia in February 2009 on loan, and his loan spell with Gor Mahia was set to continue until 2010. In 2011, he returned to Thika United for the remainder of the year, before rejoining Tusker for the 2012 season helping the side to clinch their ninth league title. He moved to A.F.C. Leopards in 2013, helping the side to a second-place finish in the league and a ninth domestic cup. He scored the lone and winning goal against arch-rivals Gor Mahia. On 11 March 2014, Opiyo completed a move to Finnish top-tier side

in a two-year deal. He made his debut for the club in their fourth-round

2014 Finnish Cup The 2014 Finnish Cup ''(Suomen Cup)'' is the 60th season of the Finnish Cup. 152 clubs entered the competition, including all sides on the top two levels of the Finnish football pyramid (Veikkausliiga and Ykkönen), 29 sides from Kakkonen and 101 ...

match against

FC Hämeenlinna FC Hämeenlinna is a Finnish football club, based in Hämeenlinna. The club's manager is Tomi Uusitorppa, and it plays its home matches at Kauriala. The team was formed in 1991. Club's history Initial years FC Hämeenlinna was founded in a ...

on 15 March, but could not help prevent the club from a 2–1 loss and an early exit from the tournament. After flirting with AFC Leopards in the June transfer window, Kenyan international midfielder Opiyo sealed a move to Qatar second division side Al-Markhiya SC on 25 July 2016, a team he led to promotion at the end of the season. On 26 July 2018, Opiyo signed for SJK. He left the club again at the end of 2018. In August 2019, Peter Opiyo and Nigerian

Uche Kalu Uche Kalu (born 16 May 1986) is a Nigerian football player who plays for Altyn Asyr FK in the Turkmenistan Higher League. He is not related to former Enyimba teammate Henry Uche nor fellow Nigeria international and India-based midfielder Kalu ...

signed a contract with

FC Altyn Asyr Football Club Altyn Asyr (), also known as Altyn Asyr Ashgabat or simply Altyn Asyr, which translates to ''Golden Century'', is a Turkmenistan, Turkmen professional association football, football club based in Ashgabat. Founded in 2008, the club c ...

from

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...

. They were the first foreign footballers in the history of the club and the first legionnaire in the

2019 Ýokary Liga 2019 Ýokary Liga season was the 27th edition of the top tier professional Yokary Liga football annual competition in Turkmenistan administered by the Football Federation of Turkmenistan. Altyn Asyr defended their championship, winning their si ...

. Despite having a contract, paperwork complications saw him fail to join the team and in mid-November 2019 he issued a termination notice and consequently ended his engagement with the club in early December to become a free agent. After weeks of training with promotion-chasing Nairobi City Stars, Opiyo joined the second-tier side in January 2020 on a one-and-a-half-year deal. He went on to renew his stay with the club with separate one-year deals to feature in the 2021–22, and 2022-23 FKF Premier League seasons.

International career

He featured for the Kenya national team between 2009 and 2014. He was first capped on 14 Mar 2009 by German coach Antoine Hey as Kenya took on Iran at the Azadi Stadium in an international friendly. It ended 1–0 to the hosts. He was also part of the squad that won the

2013 CECAFA Cup The 2013 CECAFA Cup (known as the DStv, GOtv CECAFA Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 37th edition of the annual CECAFA Cup, an international football competition consisting of the national teams of member nations of the Council for E ...

on home soil.

Coaching journey

In January 2023 Opiyo started his coaching journey by acquiring a CAF 'D' Diploma license, and in March of the same year, he moved to the Nairobi City Stars technical bench to kick start his apprenticeship with an assistant coaching role following a long term injury.The-Star, 3 Apr 202
Recovering Pinchez takes up light coaching duties at City Stars
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Honors

Club

Gor Mahia FC : Champions (1): FKL Cup: 2011 Tusker FC : Champions (1): 2012 Kenyan Premier League AFC Leopards : Champions (1): 2013 FKF President's Cup Nairobi City Stars : Champions (1): 2019-20 National Super League

Kenya

: Champions (1):

Individual

* 2009 Kenyan Premier League: Midfielder of the year (Gor Mahia FC) * 2009 Kenyan Premier League: Runner-up Young player & runner-up Player of the year (Gor Mahia FC)

References

External links

* *
Peter Opiyo at soka.co.ke
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Opiyo, Peter 1992 births Living people People from Siaya County Sportspeople from Nyanza Province Kenyan men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Men's association football utility players Kenyan Premier League players Veikkausliiga players Thika United F.C. players Gor Mahia F.C. players Tusker F.C. players Nairobi City Stars players Al-Markhiya SC players A.F.C. Leopards players FF Jaro players Jakobstads BK players Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho players Kenya men's international footballers Kenyan expatriate men's footballers Kenyan expatriate sportspeople in Finland Kenyan expatriate sportspeople in Turkmenistan Expatriate men's footballers in India Expatriate men's footballers in Finland Expatriate men's footballers in Turkmenistan 21st-century Kenyan sportsmen