Kenya women’s football team, Harambee Starlets left Morocco for Nairobi on Thursday morning following their elimination from the 2026 Africa Cup of Nations(WAFCON) in Rabat.
Starlets will now shift focus to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic qualifiers.
Beldine Odemba coached side will kick off the qualifiers against Seychelles in a two-legged match slated for October 5-13 as Kenya received a bye in the first round.
The Kenyan contingent is on airborne with a lot of lessons in their heads following their painful exit in the ongoing Continental football showpiece.
Speaking at the Rabat- Sale Airport shortly before the team’s departure, Football Kenya Federation Head of Projects and National teams Athanas Obala said the team have learnt a lot from the competition and now it’s time to bisect what went wrong and right.
“For sure it has been a very great tournament only that Kenya had bad results.
We have done bench marking to try to understand what Morocco have invested for them to be football powerhouse in Africa.
To us it’s a learning experience and we must invest in talent development something which has raised Morocco to this level.
The training has been fine from taking part in FIFA Series to Miramas Camp in France and to take part in WAFCON.”
Starlets’ skipper Mwanalima Adam Jereko shielded the team’s technical committee saying they did their job and players are the one to take responsibility.
“As a captain, I noted that we played against very tough teams. Starlets depends more on me but our opponents had like ten more players of my quality meaning we must work hard.
I don’t think coach Odemba is to be blamed, to me I feel she did her job but is players failed her.
At some point in the pitch I was cautioning my players against silly mistakes they were committing including losing clear chances.
WAFCON is behind us, and now it’s time to learn our lessons and come back strong in Olympics Qualifiers and other competitive matches.”
The team is expected to touch down at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on Saturday 8th August at 1AM Kenyan time.
Starlets finished bottom in group A after losing all their preliminary matches.
They started with a 4-0 against the hosts Morocco before succumbing to 1-0 in the hands of Senegal and then 1-0 against Algeria respectively.
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