The Federation CEO explains to Goal why they failed to hand the name of a team to take part in the Confederation Cup next season
The Football Kenya Federation (FKF) have revealed they did not submit a team to the Confederation of African Football (Caf) that will represent the country in the Confederation Cup for next season.
Responding to beat Caf deadline, who had requested to know the fate of both the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) and the domestic Cup by May 5, FKF moved to submit the name of Gor Mahia as the winners of the 2019-20 KPL season and also country’s flag bearers in the Caf Champion League.
However, FKF acting CEO Barry Otieno has exclusively told Goal the country will likely not take part in the second-tier Confederation Cup because “we did not submit any name for the competition.”
“We could not manage to give a name [of a club] for the competition because we don’t have rules which govern the domestic Cup [FKF Shield Cup],” Otieno told Goal on Tuesday.
“It was easier to submit Gor Mahia’s name for Champions League participation because we used rule six of the FKF statutes but in the domestic Cup we don’t have any rules that can be applied and that is why Kenya is likely to miss a representative next season.”
Asked why they could not submit the name of Bandari who are the Cup’s defending champions or even Kakamega Homeboyz, who are lying second in the KPL table, Otieno told Goal: “We are not allowed to do that, everything in football must follow the rules, and we don’t have such rules that support FKF to take Bandari or Homeboyz for the competition.
“We have written to Caf and explained the situation in the same letter which we submitted Gor Mahia’s name, and we have told them, if we cannot manage to play the remaining matches, from the quarter-finals, then Kenya will miss out from the competition.
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“We must follow football rules and there is no short cut about it, we have not put in place rules for the domestic competition and that is why we cannot decide on what to do next unless the competition is played to the final and a deserved winner is found.”
Gor Mahia will be returning to the continental scene for the fourth season in a row and will be keen to improve their performance from last season and reach the group stages of the competition.
Last season, Gor Mahia's dreams of making it to the group stages of the tourney was ended after they were knocked out of the first round following a 6-1 aggregate loss to Algeria's USM Alger.
Source : Football News, Live Scores, Results & Transfers | Goal.com
OFFICIAL: Kenya fails to submit representative for Caf Confederation Cup
OFFICIAL: Kenya fails to submit representative for Caf Confederation Cup
