Why Kenya-Zambia friendly match was called off

The friendly match between Kenya women’s national football team Harambee Starlets and Zambia has been cancelled off.

According to a statement released by the Football Association of Zambia, the friendly match which had been scheduled for April 24 in Lusaka will not take place because the Kenyan government has not cleared Starlets to resume competitions in view of Covid-19.

"Our highly-anticipated friendly match against Kenya's Harambee Starlets has been cancelled after they (Starlets) failed to get the greenlight from their government to start football activities.

"The team however remains in camp as the Football Association of Zambia looks to finalise its next international assignment," Football Association of Zambia said on its official Twitter account.

Football Kenya Federation (FKF) confirmed the postponement.

“The third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic has presented its own share of fear and we would not want to put the players at a risk, so we cancelled their travel to Lusaka for the match,” a source at FKF said Saturday.

Zambia’s Copper Queens were intending to use the match to prepare for 2020 Olympic Games.

On the other hand, Harambee Starlets intended to use the match to prepare for a 2022 Africa Women Cup of Nations qualifier match against Tanzania.

It was to be the first assignment for the newly-appointed Harambee Starlets coach Charles Okere and his also new technical bench.

The last time Starlets played Copper Queens was in 2019 in the qualifiers for 2020 Olympic Games.  Starlets lost 3-2 on aggregate.

Last month, the Kenyan government suspended sporting activities in the country to contain the spread of  coronavirus.