Kenyan football must hit rock bottom before genuine rebirth can take place

Is Kenyan football really headed for gloom and doom following the decision by Fifa Congress last Thursday to ratify the council’s international suspension of the country?

I mean, what do we really stand to lose as a football playing nation?

Some people have cried out loudly about the dire consequences of Kenya being out of the international football family.

For instance, we will not participate in Fifa, Caf and Cecafa-organised competitions.

Oh my God! This means Kenya is out of the World Cup! But wait a minute. We, have never qualified for this event and are unlikely to do so for many years to come.

The Africa Cup of Nations is now out of reach for Harambee Stars. The pre-qualifiers for the 2023 tournament have already been held with the main qualifying matches scheduled to start in June.

However, if we cannot even qualify for a 24-nation Afcon, what value do we bring to continental football?

We are hovering closer to the level, and this is no slight to them, of Djibouti, Somali, Eritrea et al.

How many people even knew that Eritrea, who have beaten Kenya twice in history, withdrew from the recent 2023 Afcon pre-qualifiers? I bet you didn't know.

On the six occasions Kenya have qualified for the continental finals they have never gone beyond the preliminary round.

In fact, Kenya holds the dubious distinction of being the nation that has appeared in most finals that has never qualified for the second round.

Who will miss Harambee Stars at this level? No genuine sports fan cares about whipping boys.

In as much as the Olympic spirit talks about “participation is more important than winning”, fans quickly dismiss perennial losers simply making the numbers at tournaments.

At club level, things are even worse for this country.

While we once dominated Cecafa in the heady 1970s and 80s, we are decidedly a has-been giant.

The last Kenyan club to win the Cecafa title was Tusker in 2008.

To date, Kenya’s best performance in continental competitions was when Gor Mahia won the African Cup Winners Cup aka Mandela Cup, way back in 1987, and Kenya Breweries (now Tusker) losing in the final of the same tournament in 1994.

Gor Mahia’s 8-1 first round aggregate elimination from last year’s Champions League is too painful to even write here.

Over the last two decades, preliminary and first round exits have been the norm rather than the exception. Depressing stuff this.

Speaking of which, I think missing out on international football will see phenomenal improvement of our state of mind.

Well-documented repeated beatings that Harambee Stars and other Kenyan teams have endured out there have caused general clinical depression among the forever-expectant but deluded fans who have long suffered periods of sadness. What a relief!

We have also been told of how the international ban will mean our players cannot transfer to clubs across the borders.

Kenya is known for its export of tea, coffee, cut flowers and other primary products.

If you are cynical, you can say we also export some of our bad habits like engaging in corruption and fraud.

We have exported our wonderful athletics talent abroad. Ask Denmark, Qatar and the USA, just to name a few of the beneficiaries.

But one thing we are not known for is exporting football talent.

Many of our players who exhibit any modicum of talent are hauled out of the country to play in lower tier leagues in lowly football playing nations in Europe such as Albania and Azerbaijan.

Many are journeymen, playing half a season in one country and finishing the other season in another nation or club-less as they look for another greener pasture. They are better of playing here at home.

Truth be told, a lot of these transfers are instigated by dubious agents out to make some pieces of silver at the expense of the long-term benefit of the player’s career.

What of Fifa’s funding?

The world football body gave $150m (Sh17.3 billion) in operational funds to its 211 federations for the 2019/2020 season.

This amounted to about $500,000 (Sh57.6 million) for each federation. In June 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Fifa Council approved a “universal solidarity grant” of $1m (Sh115m) to all national federations with an additional $500,000 (Sh57.6 million) specifically for women’s football. Do your math on how much FKF got that year.

The question then would be whether this money was used for the intended purposes. The disbanded federation had been hard pressed to explain its (mis)use of the Fifa funds.

Is it not good that the money has been closed until we get competent managers?

In my estimation, Kenya’s absence in international football is as dire as not having milk in your tea. The world will still enjoy its most popular beverage.

This ban, just like a dark cloud, has a silver lining for our football.

As a matter of fact, Fifa should keep us out for a while so that most of the current inept officials, left with little to do, leave the game.

This will allow Kenya football to start on a clean slate with new leaders, new players and new ethos. And even new sports journalists.

There I have said it. Everyone can go ahead and condemn me, the way poor Nick Mwendwa was excoriated for suggesting Kenya has no football talent.

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