Starlets to travel to Valencia ahead of AWCON

Harambee Starlets will travel to Valencia, Spain, where they will feature in a tournament as part of their preparation for the AWCON, Football Kenya Federation (FKF) announced on Tuesday.

A series of friendlies will be organized locally once the team resumes camp before the Spain tour, federation chief Nick Mwendwa told the press in Nairobi.

Mwendwa also revealed the federation is keenly following up on Kenyans playing abroad, who have not featured in the national team citing the call up of Ismail Said Athuman Gonzalez of Spanish side Las Palmas to the national men’s side.

“We want to have the team (Harambee Stars) play together as much as possible, that’s why we have Sudan and Tanzania coming here before we play Congo in the AFCON qualifiers. Later in August we plan to play Iraq who are high above us in the FIFA ranking, and Dubai. By the end of this year or early next year we plan to bring a European nation here for a friendly.”

Super substitute Cheris Avilia Salono’s second half goal fired Kenya to Cameroon 2016 CAF Africa Women’s Championships finals as Harambee Starlets edged out north African giants Algeria on away goals after a nerve wracking 1-1 draw in Nairobi on April 12.

Besides making history after booking their first ever ticket to the continental showpiece, Starlets will be the first Kenyan team to make the continental senior finals since the men’s side made the 2004 AFCON in Tunisia.

The two-legged tie ended 3-3 on aggregate but Starlets under David Ouma clinched the ticket for the Cameroon finals on the away goals after forcing Algeria to a 2-2 draw last Friday in Algiers.

-Fifa grants-

On Kenya’s access to FIFA annual grants, the embargo that FKF was placed under in March 2015 has been lifted, as the Finance and Audit committee continues to monitor step by step all areas of compliance that include transparency and accountability on funds released.

“We will in a few weeks announce the technical director, which again is a requirement by FIFA. We should have finished this earlier but the Germans we were targeting were a little bit expensive for us,” Mwendwa said.

The federation boss reported his intention to partner with three football associations that may not need the annual FIFA grants to use the same in local football development projects.

He confirmed annual grants to federations from Fifa had shot up from Ksh25m to Ksh125m in his address on football matters after attending the recent Congress in Zurich, his first since he came to office in February.

“FIFA’s Ksh75m to be used to rehabilitate FIFA goal project to save on costs, with national teams using the facility for training camps. We are in the process of hiring one announcement to be made in the next couple of weeks.

-Hosting CHAN-

He retaliated his commitment to see Kenya host CHAN 2018, saying the CAF delegation that toured the country for stadia assessment is okay with the plans laid down for upgrading of the existing ones.

“I will be discussing with the Ministry on how to work with the Mombasa and Kisumu governors in upgrading the two stadiums. The CAF officials assured they have no problem with our hotels and hospitals and other infrastructure.

“Other countries have hosted the tournament with similar challenges like us but we will be ready before time.”

He was speaking at the first of planned monthly briefings on the state of Kenyan football.