Under-17 girls’ Junior Starlets Team Head Coach Mildred Cheche in action during a training session ahead of the 2024 World Cup qualifier match against Ethiopia at Dandora Stadium in Nairobi on May 7, 2024.
When Mildred Chechewas appointed coach of Kenya’s Junior Starlets in April this year, she admits that she battled with self-doubt over her ability to handle the job.
The team was about to play in the 2024 Fifa Under-17 Women’s World Cup qualifiers.
At 36, Cheche had limited international experience and had never been head coach of a national team.
She signed a deal for an undisclosed amount with the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) to take immediate charge of the qualifiers, as she became only the second female coach in Kenya to lead a national women's team after Beldine Odemba with the senior Harambee Starlets.
Born in Pangani, she was brought up playing football in the tough Nairobi neighbourhoods of Huruma and Kariobangi.
In two interviews done in Santo Domingo and Nairobi, Cheche, started playing the beautiful game at seven years old with Mathare Youth Association (MYSA).
She is the fifth born in a family of six girls.
She was good enough to progress at 18 years old to the Mathare United Women then featuring in National Women's Super League in 2007.
Her preferred position was centre forward.
Ministry of Youth and Sports (MOYAS) Women FC, now defunct, recruited her and she featured for them two years in the FKF Women Premier League.
"I retired when I was 25 because of an injury that I knew would keep me away from playing football," said the Kiriri Women's University of Science and Technology International Business Management degree graduate.
Cheche fractured her right leg and needed almost two years to fully heal.
"I opted to try my hand at coaching because it was a requirement at MYSA that all active players must have junior teams to coach within the academy, and every girl was assigned to a team between the ages of 10 and 15 years, as they wanted to mould talents for the future, and that is where it all started," said Cheche.
Junior Starlets coach Mildred Cheche gestures during a past training session.
With the experience she had gathered at MYSA, she easily obtained the head coach job at Peponi International School from 2014 to 2015.
She co-founded Changes Soccer Academy, which had a boys’ team and a girls' team in the Mwihoko area in Nairobi in 2014 in Huruma.
They managed the academy for six years before merging it with Legacy Soccer Academy which was then under former Harambee Stars coach Stanley Okumbi. She became the head coach.
Assistant coach
The merged entity retained the Legacy Soccer Academy which owns the former National Super League (NSL) side, Rainbow FC, where she was appointed assistant coach to Erick Macharia.
The dual role gave her an opportunity to combine grassroots with competitive league coaching.
Cheche, who attended Valley Bridge Primary School and Pioneer High School in Nairobi, however, realised that to start handling senior teams and even national sides she needed to get the necessary certifications.
The urgency of obtaining the qualifications became apparent to her when she was appointed assistant coach of Harambee Starlets in 2022, effectively an understudy to Odemba.
She obtained her CAF B coaching license the following year.
Meanwhile, as she coached under Odemba, her experience piled up.
Harambee Starlets reached the third round of the 2024 Women Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers before bowing out after a 2-1 aggregate loss to Botswana.
But Cheche’s abilities and qualifications did not go unnoticed.
FKF gave her the Kenya women’s Under-17 top job.
She went on to write history as the first coach to guide a Kenyan national football team to a Fifa World Cup.
Kenya had four rounds to negotiate to qualify for the global event but ended up playing in just two.
Starlets received a bye in the first round and were set to face the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the second round in April, but the latter pulled out due to financial challenges.
Kenya defeated Ethiopia 3-0 on aggregate in the third round.
Cheche seemed to be getting into her grove by the time
In June, Kenya beat Burundi 5-0 on aggregate in the fourth round of the qualifiers to book a slot in the World Cup and send Kenyan football fans into rapture.
Starlets won the first leg 3-0 on June 8 at Abebe Bikila Stadium in Ethiopia.
Kenya won the second leg 2-0 at the 7,500-seater Ulinzi Sports Complex in Nairobi on June 16.
The fixture drew 10,000 fans, the highest attendance figures recorded for a women’s match in the country.
Under-17 girls’ national team head coach Mildred Cheche conducts a training session at Dandora Stadium in Nairobi on May 7, 2024.
"We were all under pressure, but once we stepped on the pitch to play, we knew it was a game we would win and finished the job. The crowd just added more fire in our bellies," Cheche said.
Featuring at the World Cup in the Dominican Republic was historic enough but Cheche went on to add more chapters.
Placed in Group “C” Junior Starlets lost 2-0 to England, 3-0 to South Korea before finishing with a bang.
They stunned the higher-ranked Mexico 2-1 to ensure a first World Cup victory and third-place finish in the group.
Against Mexico, striker Valarie Nekesa opened the scoring in the 17th minute, becoming the first Kenyan woman to score in the World Cup. Faith added the second goal in the 35th minute and was named Player of the Match.
Mexico replied via Alexa Soto’s 87th-minute penalty.
"This was a good experience as we made history by qualifying and also we did not go back home empty-handed.
“We at least won a match against one of the toughest teams in the group. Appearing on that stage means that we can play football and compete at this level. The teams were tough and we went home with lessons as we prepared for the qualifiers next year."
Will she stay with the Kenya women’s Under-17 team?
Spanish clubs
"If FKF retains me, I am willing to stay with the team but I am also open to other opportunities if they arise."
Four Junior Starlets members including Serenge and Faith have attracted interest from American and Spanish clubs.
Cheche’s Harambe Starlets will now shift their attention to next year's World Cup qualifiers.
From 2025, the Under-17 competition will become an annual event featuring 24 countries, up from 16.
Morocco will host the 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2029 editions.
The first U-17 World Cup in Africa next year will run from October 16 to November 3, 2025.
Five spots have been reserved for the continent.
"Kenya has talent and we can still play in the World Cup now that it will be hosted closer to home. This should not mark the end of the road for the girls, and we need to engage them in high-profile friendlies and tournaments for the next six months to keep in shape as we prepare for the qualifiers," said Cheche.
The biggest challenge that she encountered was ensuring that the players came to camp on time, particularly because they were students.
Cheche wants the FKF to strongly invest in women's football reckoning Kenyan women can excel at the world stage.
She also wants more to be done to have more women coaches in Kenyan football.
Besides Cheche and Odemba, Jackline Juma deserves mention as the Kenya girl's Under-15 coach.
Juma is the first woman to coach a Kenyan Premier League club.
She was appointed coach of Talanta FC this season.
Cheche says her coaching philosophy is based on hard work, belief in self, creativity, and teamwork.
She draws inspiration from Emma Hayes, an English professional football manager and currently head coach of the United States women’s football team.
At 48, Hayes is thought of as a leader in women’s football and has written an audiobook titled Kill The Unicorn about leadership strategies.
Locally, Cheche looks up to former Harambee Stars coach Okumbi, who she credits for “thinking outside the box, playing holistically, directness, and motivating young players”.
Outside the football pitch, Cheche, who is still contracted to Division Two side Rainbow FC, enjoys flipping through the pages of novels, in which she finds ‘‘the little pleasures.
One of her favourite books is Purple Hibiscus by Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie,
She also enjoys travelling, seeing, and experiencing the culture of other parts of the world. She says she loves Ugali and meat.
Music?
“I listen to any genres but gospel, rhumba, and reggae are more to my liking.
Single or dating?
Cheche laughs.
“Maybe not for now, but there is someone, somewhere.”
