Kenyans finally to watch Harambee Stars at home

The wait is finally over for Kenyans as they will now have a chance to watch the national football team, Harambee Stars, on their home soil for the first time in four years.

This is after the Confederation of African Football (Caf) confirmed that Kenya's crucial 2026 World Cup qualifier against Gabon on March 24 will be held at Nyayo Stadium as part of the test matches ahead of the delayed 2024 Africa Nations Championship (Chan) in August 2-30 this year.

Initially, the 30,000-seater venue was supposed to stage the eagerly awaited FKF Premier League's Mashemeji derby between AFC Leopards on March 2, but it has since then been moved to Kasarani Stadium, which is equally earmarked for both 2024 Chan and the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon).

The two largest facilities in Kenya are still under renovation as the country continues with its preparations to co-host the two major continental tournaments with Tanzania and Uganda.

Save for the international friendly match against South Sudan (0-1), which was played at Kasarani in 2023-the year the facility was shut down for renovations, Kenya last staged a competitive fixture in the country in 2021 when they beat Rwanda 2-1 in their final Group E match of the 2022 World Cup Qualifiers.

After that, the national team was forced to host all their home matches in the 2025 Afcon and 2026 World Cup qualifiers on foreign soil due to lack of Fifa-approved facilities in the country. With no home advantage and 12th man's support, the results have been quite unforgiving leading to Harambee Stars' ignominious exit from the 2025 Afcon showpiece to be held in Morocco after finishing third in Group J with a paltry six points behind Cameroon and Zimbabwe.

In the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers, Harambee Stars sluggishly dropped four points at 'home' after drawing against Burundi (1-1) and African champions Ivory Coast (0-0) at Bingu National Stadium, Lilongwe in Malawi, in June 2024.

Stars are likely to be haunted by these results as they are currently placed fourth in Group F with five points from four matches, behind Ivory Coast (10 points), Gabon (nine) and Burundi (seven).

But after getting an approval from CAF after a two-day inspection tour on Sunday, Kenyans can now be assured of watching their players brush shoulders with Gabon's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's at Nyayo Stadium next month followed by Gambia on September 3 and Seychelles on September 6.

"We have made good progress in our preparations with Kasarani, making steps in the right direction and Nyayo also maintaining good momentum," Nicholas Musonye, chairman of Kenya's Chan/Afcon Local Organising Committee (LOC) said on Sunday.

Caf Director of Tournaments and Events Samson Adamu, who led the continental body's high level delegation in the inspection tour, said he was impressed with the progress made so far.

The Caf delegation also inspected Kasarani Annex, Ulinzi Sports Complex and Police Sacco Stadium which are the earmarked training grounds for the competitions.