Government to pay for Kenya U-20 training, says Murkomen

Sports Cabinet Secretary (CS) Kipchumba Murkomen has said the government will facilitate high-level training for the Kenya Under-20 men’s football team ahead of their debut at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) Under-20 finals.

At the same time, Murkomen announced that he has banned the Kenya Academy of Sports (KAS) from engaging in sporting tournaments that are not focused on talent identification and development.

The CS was speaking on Tuesday when he hosted the Rising Stars for breakfast at Talanta Plaza in Nairobi.

He awarded the team Sh1.8 million for finishing second behind winners Tanzania in the Cecafa U-20 regional qualifiers held in Dar es Salaam. Tanzania.

The two teams qualified for the Afcon U-20, which is slated for early next year. 

“We will support you in preparations for the Afcon U-20. We have been requested that you go for a camp outside the country, and we will support that, we have also been requested that we get you friendly matches with more competitive teams, and we will also support the same,” said Murkomen.

“Just ensure that the budget is reasonable,” he told FKF.

Murkomen said the time is ripe for the players to be integrated into Harambee Stars since they are the future of Kenyan football. 

“The impact of young talents is evident…There is no reason why our coach (Engin Firat) should not start integrating these players in the senior team,” said the CS, adding that the Ministry of Sports will assist the players to secure education scholarships from the institutions of higher learning that recognise their talents. 

He revealed that he recently visited KAS offices at Kasarani and directed them to desist from engaging in “funny tournaments” and instead focus on school sports.

“If we continue insisting that Kenya Academy of Sports be given resources to organise inter-county tournaments which have no age limits or discipline on who can play or recognition of what talent we are growing, we will be wasting money and therefore the directive we have given Kenya Academy of Sports is to focus on youth talents from eight to 18 years,” said Murkomen. 

The CS added that he also directed KAS to come up with a proposal for a modern technology to use in scouting players.

This will include the purchase of the best gadget to use to determine the performance of the players. “We cannot use analog methods to scout players, I have told them (KAS) to come up with a clear proposal on the available technology in the world that can assist our country scout the best talents and to make sure that we showcase those skills to other entities in the world, especially sports academies, and clubs,” he said. 

Regarding the government's plans to construct an academy in every constituency in the country, Murkomen said in conjunction with Tivet, there was a re-look in their design.

Murkomen said the Ministry of Sports will soon announce the new prototype design and re-advertise for tenders so that the construction work can begin.