Sports in Kenya will suffer a complete setback due to FIFA sanctions.

Following the public spat between the Kenyan Sports Ministry and the embattled Football Kenya Federation, the layperson could see it coming fast and furious (FKF).

In an unprecedented move, Fifa has banned Kenya for the foreseeable future over allegations of government meddling in football, which the international governing body deems to be in violation of its laws.

Article 16 of the FIFA Statutes states that FKF is now suspended until further notice.

Because of this, the FKF loses all of its membership rights, as outlined in Article 13, on February 24, 2022.

Kenyans may be taken aback when they realize the full extent of the country’s extended exile, since many have yet to accept the sentence as fact.

Suppression of CAF and FIFA tournaments means that the 2021/22 Kenyan Premier League and any future local competitions are pointless as long as it exists.

To add insult to injury, the country’s under-17 national team has already been disqualified from the African qualifiers for this year’s Fifa Under 17 Women’s World Cup in India.

“Kindly be advised that Kenya’s U17 Women’s team has been disqualified from the African qualifiers for the Fifa U17 WWC in India 2022 because of Fifa’s suspension of the FKF. Fifa issued a statement announcing that matches 19 and 20 had been canceled, as well as the assignments of all appointed officials.

As a result, neither CAF nor Fifa would recognize the interim committee established by the government last November with the support of Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed, and no clubs will be promoted as a result of this move.

Since Fifa withdrew money it regularly distributes to the federation in support of its members, all clubs, including women’s, would feel the pinch of having no funds in their coffers. Infantino has also emphasized that the punishments would only be changed by the FIFA Normalization Committee, which is headed by Gianni Infantino.

There will be no shortage of musical chairs between the FKF and the Sports Ministry, even though Fifa has said that it would not allow governments interfering in its affiliate organizations’ affairs.

Football Kenya CEO-cum secretary Barry Otieno received a letter from CAF secretary Fatma Samura in which she explained why the federation was unable to enter the national women’s team, the Harambee Starlets, into the Africa Women Championship qualifiers because of the government’s dissolution of the organization courtesy of Amina Mohammed’s resignation.

Sports Registry had been consulted by the government and had sent information to Fifa Council about what had occurred in the Kenyan game, according to the letter.

On 11 November 2021, the Cabinet Secretary of the Ministry Sports, Culture and Heritage of Kenya (hereafter: “the Cabinet Secretary”) decided to replace the elected Football Kenya Federation Executive Committee (FKF Executive Committee) with a “caretaker committee” in response to “an extended deterioration of the state of football management in Kenya,” read part of the letter from the Registrar of Sports.

Nick Mwendwa, president of the Kenya Football Federation, was arrested by the Directorate of Criminal Investigation and detained.