#09
Defender
Lawrence Olum
Club
Portland Timbers
League
USL First Division
Region
USA
Signed
2007
Highest transfer fee · February 2017
$50,000 / KSh 5.2m
Transfer fee, Sporting Kansas City to Portland Timbers — $50,000 of general allocation money plus a first-round draft pick, at KSh 103.8 to the dollar.
Profile
The American pyramid
A midfielder-turned-defender who built an entire career in North America: the Minnesota Thunder, the Portland Timbers in the USL, and Orlando City, where he won the 2011 USL Pro championship.
Sporting Kansas City
Sporting signed him and gave him 86 regular-season appearances across two spells, with the 2012 US Open Cup and the 2013 MLS Cup — a final he saw out on a fractured fibula.
Malaysia, and back to MLS
A season at Kedah brought the 2015 Malaysia Premier League title, then he returned to Portland for 52 MLS appearances and finished at Minnesota United: 285 senior appearances and 30 goals.
Kenya
He won four caps for the Harambee Stars.
Cup and continental record
The USL Pro championship with Orlando City in 2011, then the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup in 2012 and the MLS Cup in 2013 with Sporting Kansas City — a final he saw out through extra time and penalties on a fractured fibula. CONCACAF Champions League football with Sporting, and the Malaysia Premier League title with Kedah in 2015.
Managers he played under
Adrian Heath managed him at Orlando City and again at Minnesota United; Peter Vermes managed him through the US Open Cup and MLS Cup years at Sporting Kansas City, and Caleb Porter at the Portland Timbers.
After football
Coach, Metro Alliance FC, and a sports development organisation in Kenya
He came off the pitch and straight into coaching in the United States, returning to Kansas City in 2022 for his B licence courses at the Compass Minerals National Performance Center after a spell on the staff at Montverde Academy. He now coaches at Metro Alliance FC and runs a sports development organisation in Kenya, built around mentorship and connecting Kenyan players to opportunities abroad — the route he took himself, from the Kenyan Pipeline to MLS.
Did you know
He won the MLS Cup on a broken leg
Olum fractured his fibula in Sporting Kansas City's final regular-season match of 2013 and still played 112 minutes of the MLS Cup final, through extra time, as Kansas City won it on penalties. A Kenyan defender finished the biggest match in North American club football on a broken leg, and has a winner's medal for it.
112
Minutes played in the 2013 MLS Cup final
1
Fractured fibula, sustained weeks earlier
2013
MLS Cup winner with Sporting Kansas City
Did you know
Kenya Pipeline to a 7-6 penalty shootout for the MLS Cup
He grew up on the Kenya Pipeline estate in Embakasi and came through the company's team before a scholarship took him to the United States. On 7 December 2013 he came on in the seventh minute of the MLS Cup final for the injured Oriol Rosell and played 112 minutes as Sporting Kansas City beat Real Salt Lake 7-6 on penalties. He is still the only Kenyan to have won it.
112
Minutes played after a 7th-minute entrance
7-6
The penalty shootout that decided it
Only
Kenyan to win the MLS Cup
Did you know
He also won a title in Malaysia, in a league nobody at home was watching
Between two spells at Sporting Kansas City he spent 2014 and 2015 at Kedah in Malaysia and won the Premier League there. Four Kenya caps came in the same period, in 2014 and 2015. Since retiring he has taken his coaching licences in Kansas City, coached at Montverde Academy and now Metro Alliance FC, and runs a sports development organisation in Kenya built to send other players down the road he found on his own.
2
Countries he won league titles in
4
Kenya caps, 2014-2015
B licence
Taken at the Kansas City performance centre
Career record
Defender and midfielder across the MLS and USL with Portland Timbers, Minnesota Thunder, Austin Aztex, Orlando City, Sporting Kansas City, Kedah FA, Minnesota United and Miami FC. Four Kenya caps from his debut against Comoros in May 2014.
Career appearances and goals reconciled against Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Olum)
285
Appearances
30
Goals
0
Assists
4
Caps
0
Int'l goals
AI score breakdown
| Criterion | Score | Max |
|---|---|---|
| League Strength | 18 | 25 |
| Club Prestige | 15 | 20 |
| Titles Won (weighted) | 11.4 | 20 |
| Impact | 10 | 15 |
| Total | 54.4 | 80 |
Either side of him in the ranking
Ahead of him · Number 8
