CHAMPIONSHIP

Starlets jet back to a heroic Welcome

Harambee Starlets yesterday received a heroic welcome after they finished as runners up in the just concluded CECAFA championship in Jinja, Uganda.

       Starlets were received at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by Football Kenya Federation (FKF) president Nick Mwendwa and thousands of fans and later  hosted for lunch 

         Mwendwa thanked the ministry of sports for supporting the federation saying the ministry has sponsored all the trips that the national team has played including CECAFA and African Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2016 which is set to be played in Cameroon

          " The  work of the federation is to ensure the job is done when the ministry supports it and  FKF will  strive to ensure the way sports is played in this country changes for the better", he said 

          He noted that  for many years Sports has been viewed as politics and lots of stories but his federation will love to be recognized with tangible actions.

           Mwendwa said  FKF is compliant to the sports Act and that they are partnering with the Ministry  of education and Kenyatta University so as to have a massive education programme for over 2,000 coaches by 2020.

         Mr. Weslas Ongayo from the ministry of Sports representing Cabinet Secretary Hassan Wario said that the ministry will continue to support the team.

        He however urged FKF to embody the values in which the Country stands for. “FKF should embrace integrity, transparency and accountability in managing our Sports,” said Ongayo.

      He further urged the sports ladies to invest while young and be active so as to have a better old age life and  called upon  FKF to form cooperative or an insurance company for its members to invest.

          Ongayo encouraged the ladies to put patriotism before them as they represent Kenya in the International competition.

            Starlets lost 2-1 to Tanzania after conceding two first half goals but they equalized in the 60th minute. 

           Their main aim is to finish top four in AFCON 2016, win CECAFA make it to the 2019 World Cup.

EFL CUP FIXTURES

All matches will kick off at 10:45pm Kenyan Time

Tuesday

Bournemouth v Preston North End

Brighton and Hove Albion v Reading

Derby County v Liverpool

Everton v Norwich City

Leeds United v Blackburn Rovers

Leicester City v Chelsea

Newcastle United v Wolverhampton Wanderers

Nottingham Forest v Arsenal

PREMIER LEAGUE

Stoke manager Mark Hughes has been fined £8,000 by the Football Association(FA) after being sent off during his side's loss at home to Tottenham on Sunday in a premier league match.

Hughes was sent to the stand for reacting angrily during the 4-0 defeat to Spurs. 

He was later charged with improper conduct by the FA.

Hughes further said that he would not contest the charge as it would cost money and that he would prefer to give to his grandchildren.

The Welshman had reacted angrily after Stoke forward Marko Arnautovic was booked for diving.

FOOTBALL

ROAD TO UGANDA

43 football stakeholders yesterday got a chance to watch Harambee starlets play Tanzania in the final today in Jinja, Uganda courtesy of Sportpesa.

Sportpesa a betting company sponsored the fully trip for the 43 to watch the first edition of CECAFA women championship final.

Football Kenya Federation so it was a good idea for fans to go and support the team and due to funds they approached sportpesa to facilitate the trip.

Those that travelled to Uganda included fans and former players who played for the National team.

They were excited to be among the fans to travel to cheer the team for the East Africa glory.

Kenyan fans were optimistic that Starlets will bring the trophy home after a display of good results in the tournament.

Harambee starlets finished top of group A with 9 points in 3 matches. They were able to defeat hosts Uganda 4-0, humiliating Zanzibar 11-0 and thrashing Burundi 4-0.

They moved on to the semi finals in which they defeated neighbors Ethiopia 3-2 conceding the first goal in the tournament.

Last game Kenya played Tanzania they drew 1-1 so it is expected to be a mouthwatering clash.

The thirty three seater modern coast bus was to leave Nyayo Stadium today for the long journey to Uganda.

FOOTBALL

CHAMPIONSHIP

Nairobi, Thursday September 8, 2016 KNA by Jeremiah Lechuta 

CECAFA WOMEN CHAMPIONSHIP 2016

Council for East and Central Africa football association (CECAFA) will be hosting its first ever women’s regional competition in Jinja, Uganda this Saturday with seven national teams participating.

African cup of nations (AFCON) 2016 finalists Kenya will face the host Uganda, Burundi and Zanzibar in group A. Tanzania, Ethiopia and Rwanda will face off in group B.

Secretary General of CECAFA and the regional coordinator confederation of African football (CAF) Nicholas Musonye said that they have been under pressure to organize a women competition just as the men’s competition.

“This year competition will be a preparation for Kenyan national women’s team to prepare for the African cup of nations (AFCON) in 19^th November to 3^rd December in Yaounde, Cameroon,” said Musonye.

He said that the association was proud of Kenya for qualifying to the AFCON competition in Cameroon and that they will carry East Africa flag high.

He added that Kenya have been put into 4 teams to play so as to play a maximum of 6 games if they are to go all the way into the final so as to prepare for this year AFCON competition.

He also gave a 4 month programme the association has prepared for football in the region. The CECAFA Kagame cup which was supposed to be hosted in June will be hosted in December before the start of (CAF) competition in January because of the enlarge number of matches in the group stage (from 8 to 16 teams).

 He wanted the clubs to use Kagame cup to prepare for next year clubs championship league football in Africa. He added that once they find a sponsor they will roll out the programme for the Kagame cup

The challenge cup 2016 will be played in November with back to back with Kagame cup. Nicolas said that they are talking to sponsors to ensure that they give support to us to organize this competition.

Musonye said that he was in Uganda last week and they proposed that the under 17, 2017 to be played in Uganda in January. He added that the federations should prepare the under 17 and that they will soon be sending out regulation so as not to mix up the date and the age bracket and it should be done immediately after the women’s competition.

CECAFA is an association for football in East and Central Africa and was formed in 1973 with its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. It consists of 12 members namely (Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zanzibar).

FOOTBALL

WHO IS SMARTER NOW.

Two of the most celebrated coaches in the world will lock horns on Saturday the 10th September 2016 as Manchester City and Manchester United play in Old Trafford( the theatre of dreams).

Manchester United Coach Jose Mourinho and Manchester City Coach Pep Guardialo renew their rivarly these Saturday.

The two coaches previous managed Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively. It is expected to draw a large audience since the two teams have a total of 100% after playing 3 games each.

Pep Guardiola has a good record against Jose Mourinho in the previous matches the two have locked horns while Jose has a good record in the premier league having won many titles with Chelsea since 2004 and the EPL season 2014/2015.

Pep on the other hand has a good record winning both Spanish cup and Bundesliga cup with Barcelona and Bayern Munich respectively.

Manchester City top scorer these season with 3 goals Sergio Kun Aguero will miss the match due to his suspension of elbowing West Ham defender Winston Reid on their 3-1 win over Westham.

Manchester United Zlatan Ibrahimovic who is the current top scorer with 3 goals will be eyeing for more goals just as he has been doing in his previous league match campaigns.

It is expected to be the toughest match these season with both teams enjoying a 100% record so far. Who wins will determine the champion these season,

Best of luck to both teams. Lets enjoy football.

 drop your comment jlechipai1995@gmail.com

SISSOKO MOVES TO TOTTENHAM

Euro 2016 finalist Moussa Sissoko has completed his move to Tottenham late yesterday.
Sissoko was linked to a move to Everton but he said that he woud love to play champions league football dashing the hopes of Ronald Koeman and the fans.Although Everton had an offered agreed, they could not agree the personal terms.
Spurs who finished 3rd last season will play in these year UEFA competition after missing for almost 6 years.
Welcome Sissoko and all the best.

PREMIER BREAKS TRANSFER RECORD

For the first time in history, English Premier league has broken the transfer spending reaching the 1.165 billion Euros breaking last years 870 million Euros. At 08:30 BST the total money spend was 1.005 billion Euros smashing last years record.
Manchester United smashed the world record set by Bale when he moved from Tottenham hotspurs to Real Madrid for a record fee of 85 million Euros. The signing of Paul Pogba from Juventus to Manchester United at a world record of 89 million Euros.
Neighbors Manchester City also were among some of the big spenders signing John Stones from Everton at 50 million Euros, Leeroy Sane at 37 million Euros.
Arsenal on the other hand improved on their lackluster in the transfer market by signing Granit Xhaka and Shkodran Mustafi both at 35 million Euros.
Chelsea on the hand signed Ngolo Kante at 30 million Euros and David Luiz returned to the Stamford Bridge after spending 2 years at French Champions Paris St Germain (PSG) at 34 million Euros.
Over 10 English clubs broke their signing records.