The Football Federation of Kenya needs close Kenya’s Harambee Stars have a date with the Walya Antelopes of Ethiopia, in a two-legged AFCON qualifier match set for next month.
The first match will be played on October 10 in Addis Ababa, with the return leg set four days later at the Kasarani Stadium.
However, there seems to be an issue before the match, with FKF indicating that they may not be able to pay for the team’s tickets to honour the match.
According to a source at the federation, the team might struggle to fully prepare for the match, which is less than two weeks away.
“We have at least two weeks before we start residential camp and there is no signal from the government. Worse still, we are yet to get the Sh19million that was budgeted for the Ghana and Malawi matches. Nobody is talking about this from the Ministry of Sports, so we are in the dark.
“We have a very good chance of making it to the Afcon finals and this team needs proper care. The boys have shown that they can deliver, they have done that against Ghana. All we need is to support this team at this time, it is the best chance we have as a country to grace the finals,” the source indicated.
“Like now, a return ticket for Michael Olunga from Japan is Sh400, 000, and must be paid in advance. We also have a number of other professionals in the team that will have to travel for the Ethiopia task, and their tickets are more or less than that of Olunga.”
Stars revived their hopes of qualifying after a deserved 1-0 win against Ghana’s Black Stars and will hope to boost their chances with wins in their next two fixtures.