CAF Club Licensing: Deadline and Requirements for Gor Mahia Ahead of Champions League Return

Kenyan champions Gor Mahia have one month to comply with tough requirements from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) if they want to participate in the Champions League.

Gor Mahia are set to return to continental football after winning this season’s FKF Premier League and they have up to June 30 to obtain the necessary license to participate in the prestigious CAF Champions League.

CAF has outlined five key criteria clubs must meet in order to be eligible for participation. These include sporting, infrastructure, administrative, legal, and financial requirements—standards designed to strengthen professionalism and ensure clubs operate within established regulatory frameworks across the continent.

On sporting matters, Gor Mahia will have to demonstrate that they have functional youth and women’s teams while their head coach and his assistant must be a holder of a CAF A License or Pro License issued by a recognised football association.

When it comes to infrastructure, all participating clubs must provide proof that they have a stadium that can host at least 10,000 fans as their home venue and it must have high-standard facilities, including modern dressing rooms, floodlights for night matches, adequate press boxes, VVIP/VIP sections, and secure evacuation or emergency.

With Kasarani undergoing renovations and Nyayo also set to be closed for the same, Gor Mahia have their work cut out on this requirement, although one of the venues could be available to them for such games as it happened in the 2024-25 season.

The CAF’s administrative requirement is the easiest of them as a club must be registered in its national football association, in this case Football Kenya Federation, and participate in a CAF-recognised national league while also having a dedicated club CEO on their books.

CAF’s legal criteria demands that the club’s official statutes and governing documents must align completely with CAF's regulations and legal framework and there must be a robust conflict-of-interest management framework in place.

The financial requirement, which has put Gor Mahia in a spot of bother before, states that clubs must have no outstanding debts to players, staff or creditors and must comply strictly with CAF transfer policies.

Further, clubs must also submit transparent financial records, an annual budget, and a sustainable financial plan.

With the deadline in place, it is a race against time for Gor Mahia, and one of either Kenya Police or Tusker, who will contest the FKF Cup final on June 14, where its winner will represent Kenya in the second tier CAF Confederation Cup.