Kenya has been kicked out of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers following the decision by FIFA to suspend the country from footballing activities.
Confederation of African Football (CAF) disqualified Kenya on Thursday, May 19, saying the country had not resolved the outstanding issues with FIFA.
Kenya, which was pooled against Cameroon, Namibia and Burundi, will now have to wait longer to participate in any regional or continental competitions.
Sports CS Amina Mohammed speaking during the commissioning of the Safari Rally Kenya Service Park at KWS Training Institute in Naivasha on November 26, 2020
File FIFA suspended Kenya following the decision of the Ministry of Sports, through Cabinet Secretary Ambassador Amina Mohammed, to disband the Nick-Mwendwa led FKF and subsequently install a caretaker committee.
Kenya was to travel to Cameroon to begin its qualifying campaign on Saturday, June 4, before the CAF directive.
Further, the country had been given two weeks prior to its first qualifying match to comply with FIFA’s conditions in order for the suspension to be lifted.
Among the conditions Kenya was to meet included returning the disbanded FKF as well as opening Kandanda House again.
CAF had initially given a warning to Kenya that failure to comply with the directive would lead to the country being eliminated from the competition.
“In case the suspension is not lifted two weeks before the matchday of the qualifiers, both associations will be considered as losers and eliminated from the competition.
“Consequently, their groups will be composed of three teams. The first and the runners-up of groups of these teams will qualify to the final tournament,” read a past communication from CAF.
Football Kenya Federation (FKF) boss Nick Mwendwa speaking at the Kenya Institute Special Education (KISE) on July 5, 2021.
Nick Mwendwa / Facebook
