Kasarani booked by another client on the day of Gor and RS Berkane CAF tie

Gor Mahia Nicholas Kipkirui(R) and Eddie Afonso of Petro Atletico from Angola battle for ball possession during their CAF Confederation Cup group D match at Kasarani Stadium [Standard]

Gor Mahia must get an alternative venue for Confederations Cup quarter-final match against RS Berkane of Morocco next week on Sunday.

This is because Kasarani Stadium has been booked for a week from April 3 for Kenya Association of Manufacturers Expo. Gor Mahia will take on the Moroccans in the first leg of the match.

Yesterday, Pius Metto, the director general of Sports Kenya which manages Nyayo and Kasarani stadiums, said the stadium was booked two months ago and will be engaged on April 7.

“KAM came here two months ago and the stadium was available and so we gave it to them,” Metto said.

Sports Kenya is a State corporation established by the Sports Act, 2013. According to www.sportskenya.org, the key aim for its formation was to promote, coordinate and implement national and international sports programmes, establish, manage, develop and maintain the sports facilities in the country and participate in the promotion of sports tourism among others.”

Metto said they received Gor Mahia’s request to host the match at Kasarani one week ago. “We did not have a full schedule of their matches and so when they came to book, we told them the stadium is taken.”

Even as Mr Metto says that it may not have been possible for Gor to book the stadium early since they did not know whether they will qualify for the next round, or the day of the match as match schedules are fixed by the organisers, in this case, CAF, and not clubs.

The news that Kasarani will not be available for the CAF tie caused an outrage on social media platforms with Kenyans calling on the authorities to “respect sports.”

Football Kenya Federation (FKF) Secretary-General Robert Muthomi said Gor Mahia are free to play at Machakos Stadium which has been approved to host CAF matches. “We will write to CAF informing them about the change of venue, which is acceptable.”

Machakos Stadium and Kasarani Stadium are the only CAF accredited stadia after Nyayo Stadium was closed two years ago for renovations.