FKF to partner with schools in new talent development approach

Football Kenya Federation (FKF) President Hussein Mohammed has announced a bold plan to collaborate with the Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association (KSSSA) and Kenya Primary Schools Sports Association (KPSSA) in a bid to streamline talent identification and development in the country.

Speaking on the federation’s new youth strategy, Mohammed emphasised the need for a structured policy framework that not only identifies talent but also nurtures and monitors it over time.

“We will definitely have, under the youth department and various departments within the federation, a program to collaborate with the Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association and Kenya Primary School Sports Associations around talent development,” he said.

Mohammed pointed out the major gap in Kenya’s football development: a lack of follow-up after talent is discovered at a young age.

“You have identified a 13-year-old who’s very good - what happens to them at 14, 15, and 16? Which schools do they go to? Which clubs do they join? Who is tracing this talent? Nobody…and that’s where the gap is,” Hussein added.

According to the FKF boss, although schools are rich in talent, the system currently lacks mechanisms to track and support these young athletes as they grow through the ranks.

“The talent is present in the school, but who captures that talent? Who packages that talent? Who follows it through to the national team or clubs? That’s where the gap is,” Mohammed reiterated.

To address this, the federation plans to establish a grassroots scouting network and talent database.

 “What we will do as a federation is ensure that at every sub-county, in every ward - even if possible - we need to have a database of our scouts. We need to train our scouts so they can feed the federation with all the data we need from schools on who is playing where and who is talented in a particular position.”

This initiative is expected to strengthen Kenya’s football development pipeline and ensure that no promising talent goes unnoticed.