Victor Wanyama

Beerschot AC

After a successful trial, Wanyama signed for Beerschot AC on a four-year contract in summer 2008. He made his debut in a League match at the end of the 2008–09 season. In September 2009, he was fined €100 and given a three-match suspension for a violent tackle on Matías Suárez of Anderlecht. In the summer of 2010 Scottish Premier League club Celtic attempted to sign Wanyama but Beerschot did not allow him to leave. Russian club CSKA Moscow also attempted to sign him, but they failed as well. Wanyama scored his first goal for Beerschot on 11 December 2010, a 77th-minute equaliser against Westerlo. In April 2011, he received another three match suspension after video evidence showed he had elbowed Brecht Dejaeghere of K.V. Kortrijk.

Celtic

On 9 July 2011, Wanyama finally completed a £900,000 move to Celtic, after the Scottish club had failed to sign him the previous year. He signed a four-year contract and in doing so became the first ever Kenyan to play in the SPL. Wanyama chose 67 as his squad number to honour the Lisbon Lions, Celtic's 1967 European Cup-winning team. Wanyama made his Celtic league debut in a 1–0 loss to St Johnstone on 21 August 2011. He played in central defence rather than his favoured central midfield role. He came on as a late substitute in a 4–0 win over Motherwell, and played for the whole second half in a 2–0 League Cup win over Ross County. On 29 September 2011, he started in Celtic's 1–1 draw with Italian team…

Wanyama made his debut for the Kenyan senior national team in May 2007, aged just 15, in a friendly against Nigeria. He went on play in all six of Kenya's 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. Having first become the captain of the Harambee Stars in 2013, he represented Kenya at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. In September 2021, after being repeatedly overlooked for selection during the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, Wanyama announced his retirement from international football, marking the end of his 14-year duty. However, following the FKF's re-admission in global competitions by FIFA and a personal meeting with Kenya's Sports Minister at the time, Ababu Namwamba, in December 2022 the midfielder officially agreed to restore his eligibility for the senior national team, together with Michael Olunga.

Wanyama attended Kamukunji High School, known for its successful football team. After High School, he played for JMJ Academy for three years and joined Kenyan Premier League clubs Nairobi City Stars and AFC Leopards. In 2007, he joined Allsvenskan club Helsingborg, but returned to Kenya in 2008 after his brother, McDonald Mariga, moved to Serie A side Parma. During his childhood, he was a fan of Celtic F.C., and would watch the club's matches from a local club modelled on Celtic called Kibera Celtic.

Wanyama comes from a sporting family. His brother McDonald Mariga was also a professional footballer, while his other brothers Thomas and Sylvester are also footballers in the Kenyan Premier League. His father, Noah Wanyama, was a footballer for A.F.C. Leopards in the 1980s, and his sister Mercy is a professional basketball player in Spain. Wanyama is managed by ExtraTime, and has a boot sponsorship deal with Adidas. In 2015, Wanyama participated in the production of a short film about football in Kenya called Mdudu Boy, written and directed by actress Ella Smith. In December 2022, Wanyama was key in urging then CF Montréal teammate and friend Alistair Johnston to move to his former club Celtic. Johnston has credited Wanyama with the move, jokingly referring to him as "agent Victor".