FKF and Sports Ministry accord Harambee Starlets reception befitting champions

Harambee Starlets received a grand welcome despite falling at the last hurdle in Tuesday’s final of CECAFA women’s tournament in Uganda.

Starlets were favourites to lift the trophy after blazing to the final only to go down 1-2 to Tanzania.

Football Kenya Federation together with the Ministry of Sports gave the team a grand reception only reserved for champions.

The team was received at the airport by a convoy of cars and police out riders and driven to Olesereni Hotel for lunch.

Nick Mwendwa, the FKF president praised the team for their performance and said that it was a result of hard work by the girls, the federation and the government.

“They did well despite and gave their all in the tournament. They were favourites to win it and the loss was therefore very painful. However, we must remember that favourites rarely win,” he said.

“From day one, we picked up a team that had nothing and had not been treated well.

“We ensured that they trained well, their allowances were paid on time and that they got friendly matches when needed.

“The girls are also very talented and this has pushed them to where they are. We want to thank the ministry for supporting this team and it has cleared all their allowances.

“The ministry also paid for the team to attend an international tournament in Spain and this gave them exposure.”

Going forward, Mwendwa said a number of friendly matches are in the pipeline before the team travels to Cameroon for the Africa Women Nations Cup.

“We will play Cameroon at home and then Morocco away as part of our preparations for the continental tournament. Our target is for the team to reach the semi-finals and we have to prepare them well.”

Mwendwa said he believes the team will play in the 2019 World Cup.

Douglas Morara, the Kenya Talent Academy Chief Executive Officer pointed out that seven players in the current Starlets team were part of the Unicef-sponsored Talent Academy.

“We are proud of this progress and intend to start another recruitment drive in November and hope that we can build another set of talented players,” he said.