FKF Boss Explains Why Kenya U15s are More Important Than Harambee Stars and Starlets

While the dust has settled on Kenya U15s botched trip to Uganda for a regional tournament last December, Football Kenya Federation president Hussein Mohammed admits his team messed up with what are the country’s most important teams.

Poor preparations, rushed squad selection, little training and stranded players spending a cold night in the corridors characterised the youngsters’ trip to Uganda for the December 6-9 tournament at St Mary’s Kitende and they paid a heavy price.

The Kenyan boys suffered heavy losses, starting with a 7-0 defeat to Uganda, before Burundi handed them another loss and by the time they were beating Djibouti, their time was up at the tournament while the girls drew with Rwanda, lost to Burundi before another stalemate with Uganda.

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Mohammed concedes the U15s were handled badly yet he sees them as the teams that will lay the golden eggs for Kenyan football.

“These are the guys that will play in the World Cup in 2030 if we pay enough attention to them now,” the FKF boss said on Sporty FM.

“For me, this is the foundation, youth football will be the foundation for us to play in the big leagues and it is going to get all the attention that it deserves and we are going to put a lot of resources into developing the U15s.”

The FKF president feels not much can be done to the current Harambee Stars or Starlets but he has a great opportunity to shape the future of Kenyan football if he gets it right with the junior sides.

“Our legacy from this administration will not be the current Harambee Stars or Starlets because we found this team in place,” he further stated.

“The one thing that people will judge us with when we are leaving office is what kind of team we would have left behind and at what level are they playing and those are your [current] U15s because by the time we leave, they will be at their prime.”

Kenya habours a dream of featuring at the World Cup in either 2030 or 2034 and there is hope that the junior teams can finally do it after several failed attempts.