Kenya’s Harambee Stars are in Kigali, Rwanda, for the Fifa Series, a biennial invitational tournament launched by the world football governing body in 2024 to give national teams from different confederations opportunities to play against each other.
Harambee Stars are poised to notch up their 750th international fixture in history.
They will play two matches in Kigali -a first-time meeting against northern European nation Estonia tomorrow, before playing either Grenada or Rwanda on Monday at Kigali’s Amahoro Stadium.
While Kenya have met Rwanda 17 times, they have never played Grenada, an island nation located in the Caribbean.
Kenya’s opponents tomorrow, Estonia, has a land area of 45,339 square kilometres, slightly smaller than Kenya’s fourth largest county Garissa county (45,720 square kilometres) and has almost as many people as Kisii county, 1.3 million.
Kenya will be Estonia’s fifth African opponent after previous meetings with Egypt (twice), Equatorial Guinea, Angola and Morocco.
Estonia will be playing in Africa for only the second time in history. Their first outing was in Egypt in 2001.
Indeed, participating in this year’s Fifa Series will make Kenya appear as a giant in the group. Yet, there are opponents who have made Kenya feel smaller, be it geographically, demographically, or sports wise.
Harambee Stars have gone toe to toe against the world’s biggest country, drawing 2-2 with Russia in October 2023 in Turkey.
In April 1984, Kenya beat the most populous country in the world then, China, 1-0 in a friendly match in Nairobi.
China, in terms of land size, is also the biggest country Harambee Stars has beaten. Bahrain is the smallest country to defeat Harambee Stars, notching two wins.
Kenya’s worst defeat, a 13-1 loss in 1932, came against a very familiar foe, Uganda.
With 113 meetings between them, Uganda is the country Kenya has played against the most.
Uganda Cranes is also the country that Kenya has drawn (35) and lost (45) the most matches with, while scoring (163) and conceding (198), the most goals against.
Tanzania, with 38 losses against Kenya, is Harambee Stars’ favourite whipping boy, followed closely by Uganda (33) and Zanzibar (31).
Nigeria is the country Harambee Stars has played the most matches, 16, without winning -- three draws and 13 losses.
Ten countries have a 100 per cent record against Kenya, with Iran boasting the most wins, at three.
It is with Guinea that Harambee Stars have played the most matches, eight, without registering a draw. In all, there are 25 countries Kenya has never drawn with.
Seychelles is Harambee Stars’ favourite opponent, with Kenya beating them six times and drawing once in seven encounters.
Harambee Stars have a 100 per cent record against six other countries, namely, China, Chinese Taipei, Indonesia, New Zealand, Pakistan, and Qatar. These are, incidentally, countries that Kenya has met just once.
Senegal is Harambee Stars’ meanest opponent, keeping a clean sheet in all five meetings between the two countries.
Liberia is the only country that has played the most encounters, three, against Harambee Stars without registering a goal.
That list also includes Switzerland, which, on December 6, 1983, became the first country outside the CAF region to play against Kenya.
In total, Harambee Stars have played against 21 countries from outside the CAF region.
Seventeen of these nations are from the AFC region, including Australia, whom Harambee Stars lost 4-0 to in their only meeting in 1996 in South Africa. The other four are New Zealand (Oceania), Russia and Switzerland (Uefa), and Trinidad and Tobago (Concacaf).
Out of this lot of 21, Oman is the country Harambee Stars have played the most, five times.
Harambee Stars have played against all nations in the 53-member CAF bar three, namely, Benin, Niger, and São Tomé and Príncipe.
