Winnie Odinga has revealed the unexpected story behind her support for English Premier League club Arsenal, saying her football allegiance began as a childhood decision influenced by her brother, Raila Jr.
Speaking in an interview, Winnie recalled that she knew very little about football when Junior challenged her to choose between Arsenal and Manchester United.
At the time, she was only a child and did not understand the rivalry between the two clubs. Her decision, she explained, initially had little to do with football and more to do with avoiding trouble with her brother.
“One day I was playing basketball outside and he ran and said, ‘Arsenal, Manchester, pick, which team you support, pick, pick, pick.’ And I didn’t know anything. I didn’t know. I was a kid,” Winnie recalled.
She said she initially picked Manchester United, a decision that immediately appeared to please Raila Jr.
“So I think I said Manchester. He got so excited, he said, ‘Yes! You lose.’ I said, ‘Why did you say that?’” she recounted.
Realising that choosing Manchester United could have consequences at home, Winnie quickly changed her answer.
“Then I changed it. I said then, okay, Arsenal,” she said.
Winnie explained that her decision to switch sides was partly strategic. She knew that if Arsenal and Manchester United met and United won, she would have to deal with her brother’s reaction after the game.
“I knew if anything happened in that game, for example, United won and I had picked, I would have trouble with him later,” she said.
“So I thought it was better, safer for me to just be on the same side as him.”
What began as a way of avoiding sibling rivalry, however, eventually developed into genuine support for Arsenal.
Winnie said her relationship with the club deepened when she went to boarding school around 2003, when Arsenal were building one of the most celebrated teams in Premier League history.
At the time, Arsenal featured a generation of stars who would go on to complete the entire 2003/04 Premier League season without losing a match, earning the famous nickname “The Invincibles.” The team finished the campaign with 26 wins and 12 draws and extended its unbeaten league run to 49 matches.
For Winnie, watching that squad play made the club much more than the team she had reluctantly chosen as a child. Winnie remembered an Arsenal squad packed with some of the biggest names in world football.
“That time it was just really Arsenal, it was killing it, like I said, Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Robert Pires, Dennis Bergkamp, Freddie Ljungberg, Kolo Toure, Lehmann, Sol Campbell,” she said.
The depth of talent particularly impressed her.
“It was just exciting. Every position had a star that was so exciting,” Winnie added.
The 2003/04 Arsenal side featured Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Robert Pires, Dennis Bergkamp, Freddie Ljungberg, Sol Campbell and Kolo Touré among others. Henry scored 30 Premier League goals as Arsenal won the title without suffering a league defeat.
The team’s style of play also helped turn Winnie’s childhood decision into genuine football loyalty.
“It played so well, and I just fell in love with them then,” she said.
Winnie’s support for Arsenal has continued beyond the Invincibles era.
Asked whether she watches football, she responded in the affirmative.
“Yes, I do.”
She also confirmed that she regularly sits down to watch Premier League matches, showing that her support for the North London club has developed into a genuine interest in football.
The Arsenal connection also runs through the wider Odinga family. Winnie and her family have previously been pictured at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, while her late father, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, was widely known as a passionate Arsenal supporter.
A 2026 profile of Raila’s relationship with the club noted his long-standing affection for Arsenal and his visits to the Emirates when he was in the United Kingdom.
