Support juniors’ football
The country should learn from the performances by the Harambee Junior Stars and Harambee Junior Starlets in their recent respective international assignments.
Junior Starlets may have lost 2-1 to Uganda in extra time in the Cecafa Under-18 Championship final at the Jomo Kenyatta International Stadium on Saturday but the team showed immense potential. The country must take advantage of this golden opportunity to rebuild football through a robust junior setup that should be deliberate, intentional and structured focus. The juniors united and galvanised the nation as they rekindled our faith in local football.
Football Kenya Federation (FKF) and the Sports ministry must wake up and smell the coffee. Vibrant age-group competitions are a crucial feeder system to produce a strong Harambee Stars that will be competitive at major championships, especially the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations Kenya will co-host with Tanzania and Uganda. Granted, the government has introduced the Talanta Hela Initiative, which—if well handled through investing in youth and grassroots talent development—will be the panacea for the ailing sports sector.
It was heartbreaking to see Harambee Starlets bundled out of the 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) by Botswana 2-1 on aggregate on Tuesday. That saw them not only miss out on the finals in Morocco but also the Sh369 million prize
FKF must address the shortcomings from the matches, where, ideally, Starlets were favoured to win especially after knocking out giants Cameroon. Some key officials at FKF have been accused of sabotaging the head coach, Beldine Odemba, creating division between her and her deputies as key players Jentrix Shikangwa, Esse Akida and Tereza Engesha also missed the assignment. Harambee Starlets have the best chance of winning Wafcon or even qualifying for the Fifa Women’s World Cup before Harambee Stars. They must be supported.
