Revisiting Kenya's U15 botched School Games trip in Uganda, who's at fault?
Reading Time: 3min | Thu. 19.03.26. | 11:50
The matter is at the sanctum of the legal battle between FKF and Ndege, who is now demanding Ksh38.9 million as compensation from the federation
After a trade of blames between former FKF CEO Harold Ndege and president Hussein Mohammed-led National Executive Council (NEC), the truth about Kenya’s poor preparations and performance in the U15 School Games in Uganda has now been established.
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Mozzart Sport has now exclusively dug in and discovered findings through correspondence between Ndege and NEC nominated member Abdalla Yusuf.
The games which took place between 6-9 December 2025 at St. Mary’s Kitende saw Kenya endure a poor performance with the boys’ team losing 7-0 to Uganda, defeat to Burundi before winning against Djibouti on their way out.
The girls on the other hand drew their first match against Rwanda, lost to Burundi before completing their journey with a draw against hosts Uganda.
From the onset, the team had poor preparations leading to the event including rushed squad selection, minimal training and worse off, teenage players were captured spending the night on corridors, curled in chairs and cold tiles leading to a wide condemnation from stakeholders.
In its explanation sent to newsrooms on 10 December, FKF clarified that the players were stranded due to a delay in the arrival of transport and therefore late departure of the team.
We have now learnt that behind the scenes, former CEO Ndege and Yusuf engaged in blame games with the matter, later forming the third of the 21 counts that led to the ouster of Ndege.
According to both court documents and leaked emails, Yusuf in a letter to Ndege on Sunday, 7 December and copied to Mohammed, his deputy McDonald Mariga, NEC member Bob Macharia and Football Development Director Franci Kimanzi questioned Ndege on the teams’ preparations.
Yusuf specifically asked Ndege why the coaching staff and the players were assembled late, the technical and tactical preparation plans and if they were followed, the scouting process used for selection and logistical challenges that occurred in the team.
Yusuf also sought to know why the team travelled by bus, why they reached 2 hrs before kick off, who selected the technical bench, when Kenya was invited to the tournament and if FKF sought financial support from the Ministry Of Sports.
In what was a detailed response on Thursday 11 December 2025, Ndege stated that upon invitation in October 2025, FKF engaged the Kenya Academy of Sports (KAS) to help in scouting and resource mobilization which were not approved by the Sports Ministry.
In an interesting response, Ndege blamed Yusuf for the team's arrival, 2 hours before kick off. Ndege stated that it was his opinion that the team should not travel to Uganda after failing to secure funding.
However, Yusuf insisted on the country's participation in the tournament, noting that he would personally fund the trip.
It is this late directive that the former CEO believed led to delays including at the border as well as heavy traffic both in Kenya and Uganda.
On delayed coaching appointments, and player selection, Ndege stated that he only learnt of the team's travel arrangements through a WhatsApp group post by FKF Communication Officer Jeff Kinyanjui as he had no knowledge of ongoing preparations.
Ndege said that this was despite an agreement between Kimanzi, Alex Alumirah, who is in charge of schools programs and himself for Kenya not to participate in the games, Yusuf through a phone call to him, directed that the team had to participate.
According to Ndege, Yusuf laid fears of a potential ban should Kenya fail to participate, upon which Ndege agreed with Alumirah, who had been in communication with Yusuf that he (Alumirah) would take full responsibility of the team.
On the team's tactical and technical preparation, Ndege referred Yusuf to the technical bench whom he believed were in a better position to respond to that.
The matter is at the sanctum of the legal battle between FKF and Ndege, who is now demanding Ksh38.9 million as compensation from FKF or a return to his role as the Federation's CEO.