Hope for African glory fades as Starlets’ wait seems futile

What you need to know:

  • Tourney begins on Saturday in Accra.
  • FKF is challenging a Caf decision to expel Kenya and reinstate Equatorial Guinea.
  • In an interesting sequence of events, Caf initially found Equatorial Guinea guilty of fielding an ineligible player namely Annette Jacky Messomo in a qualifying match against Kenya and banned the Central Africans.
  • The continental body would later reverse this decision upon appeal by the Equatoguineans.

Football Kenya Federation seems to be fighting a losing battle in its bid to have Harambee Starlets reinstated to the 2018 Africa Women’s Cup of Nations.

The eight-team football tournament kicks off in Ghana on Saturday with the hosts facing Algeria in the opening match at the National stadium in Accra from 6pm.

But Kenya's Harambee Starlets – who are not among the eight teams on the fixture schedule - were by Thursday evening still in residential training camp at Utalii hotel in Nairobi with no immediate plans of heading to Ghana.

Their participation in the continental showpiece hinges on the outcome of a case FKF says it filed at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) in Lausanne, Switzerland.

FKF is challenging a decision by the Confederation of African Football to expel and reinstate Equatorial Guinea to this biennial tournament at Kenya's expense.

“We filed the case on Tuesday,” said FKF president Nick Mwendwa. “From there we will take it as it comes.”

In an interesting sequence of events, Caf initially found Equatorial Guinea guilty of fielding an ineligible player namely Annette Jacky Messomo in a qualifying match against Kenya and banned the Central Africans.

The continental body would later reverse this decision upon appeal by the Equatoguineans.

But things don't look good for Kenya's chances as Nation Sport understands Equatorial Guinea on Thursday arrived in Ghana ready for the tournament.

The squad has checked in at the Ridge Royal Hotel on the Cape Coast and are primed to face Zambia in their opening match on Sunday.

Other participants including defending champions Nigeria, South Africa, Mali and Algeria have also arrived in Ghana.

Making matters worse for the Starlets, Kenya's ‘case’ is not among those scheduled for a hearing by CAS in the next month.

This is according to information on its official website www.tas-cas.org.