Oserian Fastac have risen from humble beginnings to become one of Kenya's top clubs.

Based in Naivasha, 100km north-west of Kenya's capital city Nairobi, the club was formed in 1995.

This was by workers for Oserian - a company which grows flowers for export.

Edward Manoah, who is Oserian's coach, was among the founding members of the club.

"We started as a welfare team just to keep staffers at Oserian flower plant busy, but we had no intention of big-time football,'' he recalls.

But in 1996, they took their footballing ambitions to a new level. They joined the South Rift Valley's provincial league.

Finishing second, Oserian were promoted to the national Super League, which they won, qualifying for the Premier League in 1998.

Manoah says their meteoric rise has surprised even themselves.

``We could not believe that after just two years in existence, we were in the Premier League."

" Everybody was excited, including the bosses of Oserian, and they gave us all the support.''

Flower Power

Making their Premier League debut in 1998, Oserian placed 10th.

They subsequntly acquired the managerial services of Twahir Muhiddin and placed 11th the following year.

Oserian went a step further in 2002. They finished second in the table and qualified for their first international assignment.

At the 2001 Cecafa Cup, Oserian made their presence felt by making it to the finals, where they were beaten by fellow Kenyan club, Tusker, on post-match penalties.

This season, things have not been rosy for the "flowermen".

Tom Juma and Sammy Simiyu, top players for Oserian, quit the club, while Muhiddin resigned after a dispute with a senior official.

Muhiddin's absence was greatly felt at 2002 Cecafa championship in Zanzibar.

The Kenyan club was eliminated in the preliminaries.

As they face the mighty Al-Ahli, it remains to be seen if Oserian will cause the major upset of this season's Champions League.