The Sahara Gunners lost in the Third Round of US Open Cup Qualifying of the 2024 tournament - but their story isn’t over, its just beginning. We reached out to the club from Buffalo, NY to learn more about what makes them tick and Kovan Menr enthusiastically replied. He shared articles which other outlets had put together about them and answered our basic questions to share the background of a club founded by immigrants.

Tell us the origin story of Sahara Gunners FC - when was the club founded? By whom and what was its mission?
Sahara Gunners FC is Soccer Team in Buffalo New York. Founded by Arkan Almadrhie & Kovan Dalil

In 2020 we couldn’t continue that year because of the coronavirus but we got ready and were practicing for 2021. Then we join the UPSL and registered for the US Open Cup; as far as we know, we are one of the best teams from Buffalo to have competed in the US Open Cup till the third qualifying round, we are the only team in 50 to 70 years in the city to be able to make it that far…

What league do you currently play in and have you always been in the same league? How often does the club think about where it should play its soccer?
We have been invited to NPSL and NISA Nation - we are working hard as right now and waiting to see who will be the next league we will join or we might join both leagues on the same time.

Our club is basic and mostly made up of refugees. We are trying to bring a very good style of soccer and maybe pro soccer to our city. We have the most followers of any local clubs and we have very good friendships with some NFL and NBA players.

Many clubs choose to sell hats, scarves or replica kits - how does your club keep the lights on and cover its league costs? How can interested people support you?
We actually don’t sell anything; we give them away! We are sponsored by a few very helpful and successful businesses:
Sahara Hookah Lounge
KM7 Clothing
Hookah Chat
Newroz Market

How has your most recent season gone for you? What were the goals and aspirations heading into it?
I don’t want to say this, but when we registered for the US Open Cup, some of our players were not able to get approved and somehow we ended up playing without our usual goal keeper and missing five of our best players! This was the biggest reason we ended in the third qualifying round of the U.S. Open cup; or we should have gone farther.

If there were one or two teams, within a 100 miles of you, to play a friendly against – who would you play and why?
This is very good question; actually, we will play anybody that wants to play us and will play anybody that is better than us. So far, we’ve played many teams and we had to drive 7 to 10 hours just for a friendly match.

But if I had to choose one, I will pickup Roc City Boom - this game is like a Classico to us and it’s always a good game - it ends up tied… or we win… or they win you never know! We would also pick:
Michigan Strikers
and Chicago Strikers

Want to know more or get involved?
Follow Sahara Gunners on Instagram HERE
And give them a follow on “X” Twitter HERE