Firat not to blame for Harambee Stars woes, says Petra

Football Kenya Federation (FKF) presidential aspirant Doris Petra has refused to echo calls by football stakeholders to sack Harambee Stars head coach Engin Firat based on poor results.

Through an exclusive phone interview, Petra revealed that she has robust and better plans for the Kenya men’s football team if she is elected the new FKF president in the December 7 elections.    

“I think we need to get younger players into the team, and I don’t want to talk for the coach or about the coach, but I will say that we have better plans for the team”, said Petra.

Petra, the only female candidate in the race to become the next Kenyan football chief, has expressed her disappointment in Kenya’s failure to qualify for the 2025 AFCON after finishing fourth behind Cameroon and Zimbabwe in Group J.

“Harambee Stars failing to qualify for the 2025 African Nations Cup is a disappointment for us.

We never at all expected this because we hoped we would qualify and, indeed, expected them to earn that ticket to fly to Morocco.

It’s unfortunate that that was never the case, but I want to assure you that I think there is time to improve on this and several other things, " Petra added.

Firat's fate will be known immediately when the new regime takes over as Kenya prepares for the 2025 CHAN tournament and 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.  

Last week, Sports Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen threatened that his ministry would halt funds directed to Harambee Stars after failure to qualify for the biggest tournament in the continent.

In the same breath, Murkomen hinted at Firat’s sacking due to the poor results and failure to help the team to go to Morocco in 2025.