Kenya Football in the new millenium

The return of Reinhard Fabisch was welcomed by most Kenyan football fans.

Bonaventure Maruti, formerly of Gor Mahia, is seen here playing for top Swedish side, Orebro, was among the leading scorers in the Swedish league in the 2001 season. Paul Oyuga, originally from Alaskan of Malindi, also made a significant impression in the Swedish league and was among the top scorers in 2005

Fabisch did his best to point the stars in the right direction but was once again derailed by a myopic self seeking KFF chairman.

Captain Robert Mambo receives the CECAFA cup from former Tanzanian head of state Ali Hassan Mwinyi.

Midfielder MacDonald Mariga made his debut as Kenya beat Guinea 2-1 to start their ACN qualifying campaign.

Patrick Oboya in action against Nigeria

Sofapaka beats Ismailia of Egypt

Titus Mulama scored one of the goals as Sofapaka buried Ismailia of Egypt 4-0

Coach Michel pictured here with Anthony Akumu, Francis Kahata, Victor Wanyama, Peter Opiyo and Dennis Oliech did not last long in the Harambee stars bench.

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At the dawn of the new millenium, a new KFF team led by Maina Kariuki, Hussein Swaleh and Mohammed Hatimy was elected. Amid funfair and pomp, Maina Kariuki promised to use his private sector experience to revolutionize the way football is run in Kenya. Fans had every reason to be optimistic. Little did they know that the Maina Kariuki team would go down as the worst Kenya has ever seen. They looted the KFF treasury, drove sponsors away and alienated fans. It is fair to say that this is the worst period Kenya football has ever gone through. As the year 2000 ended, Kenyan fans were subjected to another surprise when popular German coach, Reinhard Fabisch was hired in a six year contract, with his stated objective being to help kenya qualify for the 2006 world cup which will be held in his homeland of germany. Kenyan fans continued to wait with bated breath hoping that Fabisch will be able to reproduce the magic he produced previously. The return of Reinhard Fabisch was welcomed by most Kenyan football fans. Upon his return, Fabisch was able to raise the standards of the national team substantially. Kenya nearly qualified for the Africa cup of nations. Had Fabisch been available from the start of the qualifying campaign, Kenya might have qualified. They finished behind continental giants Morocco and Tunisia. Harambee stars fans expected the world from Coach Fabisch. In the year 2001, several Kenyan players were able to secure contracts with European first division teams : John Muiruri and Robert Mambo went to Belgium while Bonaventure Maruti and Paul Oyuga went to Sweden's top tier. Maruti and Oyuga in particular were able to make a good impression in the Swedish league. Kenyans were hopefull that their moves to Europe would open the doors for more Kenyans to join the elite ranks of European leagues. Bonaventure Maruti, formerly of Gor Mahia, is seen here playing for top Swedish side, Orebro, was among the leading scorers in the Swedish league in the 2001 season. Paul Oyuga, originally from Alaskan of Malindi, also made a significant impression in the Swedish league and was among the top scorers in 2005 In 2002, Coach Reinhard Fabisch was once again dismissed by the KFF secretariat. The decision was based on a personal vendetta held by KFF chairman Maina Kariuki ostensibly because of comments made by Fabisch to the effect that the KFF team does not take care of Harambee starts player welfare. This however was the tip of the iceberg. Maina Kariuki's incompetence led to a decision by Sports Minister Francis Nyenze to dissolve the KFF secretariat and appoint a caretaker commitee. Nyenze's decision was however reversed by a high court judge. Fabisch did his best to point the stars in the right direction but was once again derailed by a myopic self seeking KFF chairman. The year 2002 will also be rememebred as the year when perennial giants, Gor Mahia finally hit rock bottom after years of decline. They finished second last in the national league and were consigned to relegation. They however received a reprive from the KFF. At the end of 2002, Kenya finally lifted the CECAFA cup after a 19 year drought, after beating hosts Tanzania 3-2 in the final. 17 year Dennis Oliech emerged as the leading scorer in the tournament despite coming on as a substitute in all the games. The youthful Oliech ended up as the top scorer in the tournament, a brilliant sign of great things to come. Captain Robert Mambo receives the CECAFA cup from former Tanzanian head of state Ali Hassan Mwinyi. The year 2003 will be remembered as the year when the minister in charge of sports , Najib Balala disbanded the Kenyan national Under 17 team for fileding over age players. Never in the history of football has any country ever owned up to age cheating. Some of the players Kenya fielded were as old as 22. Kenya shocked Ghana by beating them 2-0 in Nairobi only to be disqualified by Minister Balala for fielding over age players. In mid 2003, Kenya finally managed to qualify for the Africa nations cup after a 12 year absence. They did so by collecting 13 out of a possible 18 points to finish ahead of Togo. Dennis Oliech scored several crucial goals and emerged as the most outstanding player in Kenya's qualification campaign and possibly the best centre forward Kenya has ever produced. Also in 2003, the constant wrangles that plagued the Kenya premier league finally led to a number of top clubs led by Mathare United Chairman, Bob Munro breaking away to form their own league known as the Kenya Premier League. Kenya fans had plenty to celebrate about as Kenya pipped Cape Verde to qualify for the Nations cup. 2004 is a year that many Kenyan football fans will never forget. In April, Kenya took part in the Africa cup of nations after a 16 year hiatus. The lost their opening game 3-1 to Mali, Lost 3-0 to Senegal in the second game and beat Burkina Faso 3-0 in the last game. But it was the domestic front that left many fans with a bitter taste in their mouths. The leaders of Kenya's top 10 club teams, fed up with incompetence and corruption in the KFF, decided to rebel and form their own parallel league. All the top teams with the exception of AFC Leopards joined in what was then Christened the Transparency cup. Leopards case was even more curious given the fact that half of their officials wanted to join in the Transparency cup while the other half opted to stay in the Premier league. As a result, AFC Leopards did not a feature in either league. Attendances for both leagues were at an all time low as despondent fans tuned out. A crowd of 100 turning out to watch a match in Kenya was considered high at the time. Minister Najib Balala dissolved the KFF and appointed a caretaker committee in its place led by Dr Mike Boit. FIFA and Sepp Blatter were not happy with the goings on in Kenya and threatened to ban Kenya. Balala refused to budge and FIFA slapped Kenya with an indefinite ban. FIFA at the time were more interested in protecting their turf even at the expense of football in the country. Some 60 days later, Sepp Blatter must have seen the light and decided to extend an olive branch to the Kenyan sports minister who by this time was one Mr Ochillo Ayacko. The ban was lifted and Kipchoge Keino was appointed by FIFA as the leader of a normalization committee to put football back on track. Things did not get much better in 2005. Alfred Sambu was elected KFF chairman and upon FIFA's insistence, a consulting company (KPMG) was assigned the task of recruiting a qualified secretary general. Moni Wekesa was deemed as the most qualified candidate by the KPMG. KFF officials however refused to accept their recomendations and appointed their own candidate Dan Omino and went further to remove Alfred Sambu from office and replaced him with Mohammed Hatimy. What followed was a circus the likes of which Kenyans have never seen before. Wekesa, Omino, Sambu and Hatimy each claimed to be the legitimate office holders. Due to the bickering and confusion, Kenya failed to qualify for the 2006 Africa nations cup and were banned from the CECAFA cup Midfielder MacDonald Mariga made his debut as Kenya beat Guinea 2-1 to start their ACN qualifying campaign. In 2006, Dennis Oliech became the first Kenyan to play in one of Europe's top leagues when He made his debut for Nantes in the French league. On his debut he impressed French fans with his ball wizardry, breathtaking speed and sheer hunger. In 2007, Kenya played in the qualifiers for the 2008 Africa nations cup. The campaign ended up in disaster as Kenya finished behind Eritrea and Angola. Particularly dissapointing for Kenya was the home loss to Eritrea. Kenya football had hit rock bottom as the country's FIFA ranking plummeted to an all time low of 115. Also in 2009, Sofapaka FC, a team owned by Congolese businessman Elly Kalekwa won the Presidents cup despite still playing in a lower division. They were promoted to the Kenya Premier League in 2008. In 2008, Francis Kimanzi took over as national team coach. He led to Kenya to what looked like it was going to be a succesful qualifying for the 2010 Africa nations cup. In the first round of qualifiers, Kenya finished second behind Guinea and ahead of Namibia and Zimbabwe to qualify for the second phase. Most impresive were the 2-0 home wins over Zimbabwe and Guinea. It was here that the wheels came off. Due to a disagreement between Mohammed Hatimy, The FKL chairman and Bob Munro, Francis Kimanzi was forced out as coach of Harambee stars. To replace him, the German Antoine Hey was hired. His stint as Harambee stars coach was disastrous. Not only did Kenya underperform but Hey and striker Dennis Oliech could not see eye to eye. He sidelined Oliech for 2 games much to the chagrin of the Kenya public. Hey was finally forced out and replaced by Twahir Muhiddin. Oliech made a comeback in the last match against Nigeria. He gave the Nigerians a torrid time and scored the 1st Kenya goal as Kenya lost 2-3 to Nigeria. Patrick Oboya in action against Nigeria On a positive note, in 2009, MacDonald Mariga who was now playing for Inter Milan and Dennis Oliech who was now playing for AJ Auxerre became the first Kenyans to play in the European Champions league. Also in 2009, Sofapaka FC who had just been promoted to the Kenya Premier league a year earlier, won the Kenya Premier league with a star studded side including several Congolese players most notably Bob Mugalia who would later switch his citizenship to Kenya and play for Harambee stars. In 2011, Sofapaka participated in the CAF Confederations cup and produced a performance reminiscent of Akenya teams in the 1980s. Most notably they became the first Kenyan team to eliminate an Egyptian team when they beat Ismailia 4-0 in Nairobi after having lost the the first leg 0-2. They had also eliminated Aviacao of Angola and St Eloi of Congo DRC. In the playoff round, they went down 3-4 aggregate to Club Africain of Tunisia. It was a star studded Sofapaka side with several national team players like Mugalia, James Situma, Titus Mulama and Humphrey Mieno. Kenya did not qualify for the 2012 Africa nations cup due to lack of stability in the technical bench. Within a period of 2 years, the national team coach changed four times. FKF chairman Mohammed Hatimy will go down as perhaps the worst person ever to lead the Kenyan federation. His negligence was such that he literally never lifted a finger to do anything. The long overdue elections FKF elections were finally held in 2011. Sofapaka beats Ismailia of Egypt Titus Mulama scored one of the goals as Sofapaka buried Ismailia of Egypt 4-0 Sam Nyamweya was elected as Chairman with Sammy Sholei as the Vice Chairman. Sholei was seen as a reformer by Kenyan fans. He had been at the forefront of trying to bring sanity back to Kenya football. And before the elections he gave up his own ambitions in order to support Hussein Mohammed for the chairmanship. But with the pro-reform campiagn split between Ambrose Rachier and Hussein Mohammed, Nyamweya won. In 2012, the Nyamweya led FKF hired reknown French coach Henri Michel. This is the same coach who had coached France with Michel Platini in the 1980s and later coached Morocco. His salary was a whopping 80 million shillings over two years and most wondered where that kind of money would come from. It came as no surprise when Michel quit after only two months citing lack of payment. He left only 2 weeks before Kenya was due to play Burundin the CHAN cup qualifier. With the team in dissaray, Burundi eliminated Kenya 1-0 aggregate. It came as no surprise that FKF could not afford Henri Michel's salary. Coach Michel pictured here with Anthony Akumu, Francis Kahata, Victor Wanyama, Peter Opiyo and Dennis Oliech did not last long in the Harambee stars bench. FKF Chairman Nyamweya had anticipated that the government would foot Michel's salary. But the government wisely declined. Michel left in a huff. He was soon replaced by Belgian Algerian Adel Amrouche. Amrouche's first game was an away encounter against Nigeria. Kenya were leading 1-0 thanks to a superbly taken free-kick by Francis Kahata. They came very close to an upset but conceded a late equalizer. 2013 was the year when Kenyan defensive midfielder Victor Mugubi Wanyama became a global icon. While playing for Celtic of Scotland in the European champions league, Wanyama put on a superb display in particular in the game against FC Barcelona in which he scored. Wanyama later became the subject of a bidding war with various teams including Liverpool FC bidding for his signature. He eventually joined Southampton thus becoming the first Kenyan to play in the English premier league.