Kenya’s sojourn in Afcon: Hopes, impediments, and opportunity

In being selected to co-host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals, neighbours Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania will effectively play in the 36th edition of the continental showpiece.

The Confederation of African Football (Caf) gives automatic qualification tickets to countries hosting the finals of the biennial, 24-nation tournament.

Caf President Patrice Motsepe announced on September 27 that East Africa Pamoja Bid by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania to host the 2027 Afcon finals was successful, beating single bids by Senegal, Botswana and Egypt.

Should the three East African countries impress Caf with their preparations to stage a successful event, and are not stripped of the hosting rights, it will be the first time in history that the competition is happening in this part of the continent. And what a joy will it be for Kenyans to finally watch an Afcon match on home soil!

Since it was first held in 1957, Kenya has competed in six Afcon finals, making its debut in the 1972 edition of the tournament held in Cameroon.

Harambee Stars last graced the continental showpiece in 2019 in Egypt,  bowing out at the group stage. In all the six occasions Kenya has played in Afcon, there has been little to write home about the national team’s performance, save for the fact that it consistently qualified for the tournament when it was more competitive  - as an eight-team affair or 12-team affair. The country did not make it past the group stage in all the six editions.

FKF president Nick Mwendwa said Harambee Stars’ target in the 2027 Afcon finals is to reach the semi-final stage.

“Kenya has never gone past the group stage, but we want to reach the semi-finals in 2017 Afcon,” Mwendwa said during NTV's Monday night  sports show SportOn on October 2.

“It means that we need to first go to 2025 Afcon in Morocco. Depending on what goes on in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, we can go to the 2027 and claim a semi-final slot. It will be so nice if we reach the semi-finals with one of our neighbours. I'm confident that because it will feature six groups of four teams each, we can get to the quarter-finals."

Kenyan football legends John “Bobby" Ogolla, Peter Dawo and Allan Thigo are of the opinion that for Harambee Stars to reach the semi-finals of the 2027 Afcon, the country should start assembling a formidable squad immediately, with focus being on youthful players.

“We have to spend more, take the team out of the country to play friendly matches with top teams. That can give us the experience and confidence to perform well,”  former Harambee Stars defender Ogolla said.

Dawo said: “Four years is a long time. Kenya can make a strong team for the tournament. We can start building a team now, most probably an Under 20 side. They should play several friendlies.”

The former forward, who is best remembered for his aerial prowess with the ball, and for heading home goals,  was part of Kenya’s squad at the 1988 and 1990 Afcon finals held in Morocco and Algeria respectively.

Thigo, who played for the national team between 1968 and 1979, including at the 1972 Afcon finals in Cameroon, said Kenya should focus on playing many friendly matches against African teams to have a true picture of her strengths and that of her would-be opponents in 2027 Afcon finals.

At the 1972 Afcon finals, hosts Cameroon, Kenya, Congo, Mali, Morocco, Togo, Sudan and Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) are the countries that qualified for the tournament.

Kenya had a rude welcome to the games, finishing a disappointing third in Pool “A”  with just two points, three behind leaders Cameroon. Kenya lost 2-1 to Cameroon, before registering identical 1-1 draws with Mali and Togo.

Johnathan Niva, Daniel Arudhi Nicodemus and Peter Ouma netted Kenya’s three goals in the tournament in which Congo thumped Mali 3-2 in the final to be crowned champions.

Other notable names in that Harambee Stars squad included James Siang’a, Allan Thigo, Austine Oduor, Stephen Yongo and John Nyawanga.

In their second appearance at the continental showpiece in 1988 in Morocco after spending more than 10 years in the cold, Kenya under the tutelage of coach Chris Makokha, crashed out at the group stage after bagging just one point in Group “B” where Nigeria topped with five points. Hosts Morocco, Algeria, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt and the Zaire (now DRC) qualified for the eight-team competition.

The Kenyan squad at the competition was dominated by Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards players, with some of the notable names being Dawo, Oduor, Henry Motego, Sammy Onyango, Wilberforce Mulamba, Tobias Ochola and Washington Muhanji. They suffered  identical 3-0 losses to Nigeria and Egypt, before battling to a barren draw with Cameroon. Cameroon beat Nigeria 1-0 in the final.

Despite Kenya making an immediate return to the Afcon finals in the 1990 and 1992 editions held in Algeria and Senegal respectively, Kenya’s poor performance persisted.

In Algeria under coach Mohammed Kheri, Harambee Stars finished bottom in Group “B” with one point only after drawing 0-0 with Senegal and losing 1-0 and 2-0 to Zambia and Cameroon respectively. Algeria lifted the title with a1-0 win over Nigeria. Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire and Egypt are the other countries that contested in the eight-team affair.

Kenya finished bottom with no point in Group “A” of the 1992 Afcon finals in Senegal, which was expanded to have 12 teams.

Algeria, Cameroon, Congo,  Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Morocco, Zaire and Zambia are the other countries that competed in the tournament. Kenya lost 2-1 to Nigeria and 3-0 to Senegal.

Mickey Weche scored Kenya’s only goal in the entire competition.

Ogolla said it was because Kenya is endowed with rich football talent that it qualified for the three successive editions of Afcon.

He said the team failed to progress past the group stage of the competitions due to lack of proper preparation after it qualified for the contests.

“Nothing special was done. Kenya has always had talents and it took a lot of hardship by the players to qualify for the Afcons.

"After qualifying (for Afcon), there are never good preparations to make us compete effectively,” said Ogola, who also blamed the high turnover of coaches to the team’s poor performance in the competition.

After the 1992 Afcon, Kenya would wait until in 2004 to make a return to the continental showpiece in Tunisia but yet again, they failed to advance to the knock-out stage of the competition, where 16 teams took part.

Kenya, coached by Jacob “Ghost” Mulee, finished third in Group “B” with three points four behind leaders Mali. It was at this competition that registered its first ever win in Afcon finals when it hammered Burkina Faso 3-0 in their last match of the pool.

Earlier, Kenya lost 3-1 to Mali and 3-0 to Senegal. Titus Mulama, Emmanuel Ake, Dennis Oliech and John Baraza scored a goal apiece for Kenya in the tournament.

In their last Afcon appearance in 2019 in Egypt, Kenya - coached by Sebastien Migne finished - third in pool “C” with three points, six behind leaders Algeria and second-placed Senegal.

Kenya captained by Victor Wanyama lost 2-0 to Algeria and 3-0 to Sadio Mane-led Senegal.

Coach Migne's boys thumped Tanzania 3-2 in their other match of the pool. Michael Olunga and Johanna Omolo were Kenya’s only scorers in the tournament. Against Tanzania, Olunga struck twice while Harambee Stars' other goal was notched by Omolo.

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