|
Real Kakamora F.C.
Real Kakamora Football Club, commonly referred to colloquially as RK or Real Kaks, is a professional Solomon Islands football club based in the province of Makira-Ulawa, and plays their matches in Honiara. The club competes in the Telekom S-League, the top flight of football in the Solomon Islands. The club was founded in 1998 and served as one of the S-League's eight founding members in 2011. With over 33,000 followers on Instagram at the end of 2024, Kakamora is considered to be one of the most popular football clubs in the largely semi-professional Oceania Football Confederation. Often beset by a lack of proper funding and resources in their first twelve years spent in the league, Kakamora failed to record a win in their first season of play in the S-League, and after a period of brief mid-table success, plummeted greatly and often finished at or near the bottom of the table in subsequent seasons. Most notably, they preceded to record two additional seasons without a win, infamously finishing the 2023 season by failing to record a single point in 22 matches played, with a staggering goal differential of -102. Their futile performances and egregiously-lopsided defeats later came to attract international attention, with many, including the club themselves, describing Kakamora as the "worst football club in the world." In early 2024, facing widespread pressure and the threat of being removed from the S-League next season if their performances were not to improve, the club adopted a new crest and branding, and subsequently established an official Instagram account in February. In the following months, they preceded to use Instagram's short-form Reels video service to publish numerous memes and posts humorously highlighting the club's shortcomings, which quickly grew viral on the platform, and more importantly, provided Kakamora with a newfound international fanbase interested in the club's performance. Spurred by their unprecedented online success, Kakamora shared their S-League license with the management of Honiara FA League club Green Shield FC, and used their new source of funding to target young, high-potential players, including Waneagu United's striker Paul Francis and Central Coast U19 player Gordon Iro, amongst others. The club's 2024 season resulted in a massive improvement, as Kakamora unexpectedly spent much of the early season leading the championship before ending in third place, their best finish in club history. Kakamora firmly established themselves as one of the most popular clubs in the OFC, and won 130,000 SBD in prize money from the SIFF following the end of the season. History Originally founded in January of 1998[1] as an amateur team, the club has alternated between a dark blue and white kit since its inception. They remained relatively unknown until 2011, when they joined the Telekom S-League as last-minute replacements for Makuru FC, who had refused to play in the league on religious grounds.[2] Since joining, they played the majority of their home matches at the 22,000-capacity Lawson Tama Stadium in Honiara, which has served as the de facto home venue of the entire league as a whole, restricting the club to play both their home and away matches at the stadium.[3] In domestic football, Real Kakamora enjoyed somewhat limited success in its first few seasons as a professional club, with two 4th-place finishes in the 2011-12[4] and 2014-15[5][6] editions of the league. Since their last 4th-place finish, the team has served as a perennial bottom-feeder in Solomon football, finishing in the bottom four places of the table each season; the lone exception being a 5th-place finish in 2021.[7] Real Kakamora finished 0-0-22 in the 2023 season, conceding an average of 5.27 goals per match[3] and with a goal difference of -102 despite playing in only 22 matches. Their season ended with a 14-0 loss to Solomon Warriors, with striker Tigi Molea tallying 10 goals in the match to clinch the league title for the Warriors, the 2nd-highest total in league history. During this time, the club gained international notoriety for its Instagram page[8], gaining over 30,000 followers (as of December 2024) for its unique online presence, notable for its rather “unfiltered and contrarian” style of content. [9][10] In 2024, Real Kakamora got their first victory in 2 years against Marist FC. Moreover, in the next match, They beat Kossa FC 2-0, starting a two match win streak, their first since 2021. Current squadSquad for 2024 Solomon Islands S-League Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
StaffSports:
References
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
