NAIROBI, Kenya, November 19, 2025 – Football Kenya Federation (FKF) president Hussein Mohammed has apologised to the country for Harambee Stars’ 8-0 drubbing by Senegal in an international friendly in Turkey on Tuesday evening.
Hussein says the thrashing was a wakeup call for Kenya to make deliberate investments in its football.
“Truth be told, today is a bad day in office. The results from today’s games are a wake up call to us. To play and compete against the best in the world requires deliberate investment in a serious and professional technical team and player development programs,” the supremo said.
The president further said the ‘massacre’ will not go unabated rather the federation will review the policies, operational procedures and key performance indicators at all levels of the game in the country.
“We have no excuses. I apologise for these results. We shall fix it. We will review our policies, operational procedures and key performance indicators of all staff starting from the grassroots and working our way to all National teams,” he said.
Echoing his boss’s comments, vice-president MacDonald Mariga said the loss was a sobering reality about the low standards of Kenyan football compared to the crème-de-la-crème of the world.
“Today’s loss to Senegal is painful no excuses. A harsh lesson on what toplevel football demands. We take responsibility, fix our mistakes, and we come back stronger,” the former Harambee Stars midfielder said.
The embarrassing defeat came only two hours after the national under-17 team had played to an underwhelming 1-1 draw with Somalia in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The loss was McCarthy’s fifth loss since he took over the reins in March this year, and his heaviest since the 3-0 defeat by Ivory Coast in their final 2026 World Cup qualifier, last month.
The South African went for a largely inexperienced squad that comprised Gor Mahia leftback Bryton Onyona, Nairobi United’s Kevin Otiende, Finland-based Lawrence Okoth and Spain-based Aldrine Kibet, among other debutants in the national team.
