NAIROBI, Kenya, August 8- Former France coach, Raymond Domenech as well as the much travelled compatriot Claude Leroy are among ten Football Kenya Federation (FKF) shortlisted foreign coaches for the Harambee Stars job.
According to FKF boss Sam Nyamweya, the ten were selected from a list of 60 who had applied on Wednesday and what remains is for the Technical Committee headed by Elly Mukolwe to appoint the successor to Francis Kimanzi.
“We shall appoint the most qualified coach out of the ten shortlisted,” Nyamweya continued in his statement.
Apart from Domenech and Leroy, former Morocco head coach Henri Michel is the other Frenchman on the list with successful previous Africa manager of the year (1992) Otto Pfister of Germany among the shortlisted candidates.
Previous Ghana Black Stars tactician Ratomir Djukovic, Kikovic Milenko and Miodrag Dujkovic are the Serbians listed with Belgian trio of Luc Eyamel, Adel Amrouche and Tom Saintfelt completing FKF’s pre-selected ten.
The Stars job fell vacant in May when Kimanzi was axed after failing to lead the team to South Africa 2013 Nations Cup final knock out qualifiers by losing on the away goal rule when they fell 1-0 to Togo in Lome having won the home leg 2-1 in February.
Kimanzi who was re-appointed to the post in the immediate aftermath of Nyamweya’s election as FKF chair was also indicted for picking only a single point from Kenya’s two 2014 World Cup qualifiers, drawing 0-0 in Malawi before going down 1-0 to Namibia.
The immediate former coach was subsequently appointed as FKF technical director and would have been actively involved in choosing his successor but he declined to take up the appointment.
With Kenya sliding one place to position 126 on the latest FIFA World Rankings, the new man at the helm has the task of lifting a team that has spiralled out of the top echelons of African football.
Domenech, Leroy, Michel and Djukovic possess World Cup experience with the federation keen to give the job to a man whom they believe will salvage Kenya’s hopes next March when they face group favourites Nigeria.
“I have nothing against local coaches but they have proven to be partisan and short of the technical ability to handle the team,” Nyamweya announced in June when he made the decision to axe the technical bench.
The statement was seen as a broadside against Kimanzi who was accused of selecting his acquaintances in his squad during his second spell that failed to mirror his first stint when he led Kenya to the final qualification group for South Africa 2010 World Cup before he was acrimoniously fired by the previous regime, Football Kenya Limited.
At the time, Pfister who has a decorated CV with African teams was mooted for the job before his compatriot; Antoine Hey was controversially hired allegedly at his recommendation.
Under Hey, Stars lost five and won one of their qualifiers to crash out of the South Africa Mundial and he was not in charge of the final match against Nigeria where Stars lost 3-2 in Nairobi, having abandoned the team.
It remains to be seen whether the federation will hire a high profile coach to lead the side since Nyamweya has been criticised for playing to the gallery whenever negative spotlight is shed on his administration.
He bowed to popular clamour in November last year when he fired Zedekiah ‘Zico’ Otieno from the Stars job before they could play in the 2014 World Cup pre-qualifiers against Seychelles and restored Kimanzi to the post in one of his very first acts upon his October 28 election.
SHORTLISTED CANDIDATES
1. Ratomir Djukovic- Serbia
2. Luc Eyamel-Belgium
3. Adel Amrouche-Belgium
4. Claude Leroy- France
5. Otto Pfister- German
6. Tom Saintfiet-Belgium
7. Miodrag Dujkovic- Serbia
8. Henri Michel- French
9. Raymond Domenech-French
10. Kikovic Milenko-Serbia
