Football Kenya Federation (FKF) has formally challenged a decision by the Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) to award Kenya a 3-0 victory following the abandonment of its U-17 match against Sudan, insisting that the original 16-0 scoreline should be maintained.
In a letter dated Wednesday, June 17, and addressed to the CECAFA Executive Director, the federation rejected the committee’s decision to award Kenya '3 points, 3 goals' and requested an urgent review of the ruling.
FKF argued that Kenya should not be penalised for circumstances that led to the match being abandoned, noting that the national side had already established a commanding lead before play was stopped.
"At the time of the abandonment, Kenya had scored 16 goals against none by the opposing team. Kenya was not responsible for the abandonment and as such, should not be punished for scoring the number of goals we scored," FKF stated.
The federation further argued that the decision could have significant implications for the tournament standings, particularly because goal difference and goals scored are used as tie-breakers under CECAFA regulations.
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"Art. 3.12 of the CECAFA Regulations guides us on the tie-breaker where the goal difference and the number of goals scored come into play. Scrapping goals at the expense of one team (Kenya) and to the benefit of another team (Tanzania) where the goals are to be used as a tie-breaker is not only unfair but unjust," the letter read.
FKF also cited CAF regulations, arguing that they support maintaining the scoreline recorded at the time the match was interrupted when it is more favourable than a standard 3-0 result.
In addition, FKF pointed to Article 16.7 of the CECAFA regulations, saying the organising committee has the authority to either uphold the result at the time of abandonment or order a replay.
"Both CECAFA and CAF regulations grants the Committee powers to uphold the results as at the time of the abandonment considering that more than three goals were scored by Kenya. As such, we request that the Committee reviews its decision and rightfully maintains the score (16-0) in the spirit of fair play and for the integrity of the competition," FKF wrote.
FKF urged CECAFA to handle the matter with urgency and fairness.
Elsewhere, this comes weeks after Sports Cabinet Secretary Salim Mvurya dismissed reports alleging that the Ministry of Sports has temporarily suspended FKF.
In a post on Thursday, June 4, he flagged the claims circulating on social media platforms as fake.
Mvurya's clarification comes after a section of Kenyans raised concerns online over reports that the FKF had been suspended by the Ministry of Sports.
The flagged report claimed that the Ministry of Sports suspended FKF over alleged misapplication of resources and failure to file financial returns.
Sports Principal Secretary Elijah Mwangi, in a post on his Facebook account, also flagged the social media reports as false.
