Kenya’s national soccer team head coach Engin Firat reiterates that qualifying for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), and a strong push for a slot at the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the USA and Mexico remain top of his priority.
Kenya’s Harambee are fourth in Group F of the World Cup qualifiers with five points, and their journey to qualify for AFCON 2025 starts this week.
Engin Firat, exclusively for Telecom Asia Sport
We picked back-to-back points against African champions Ivory Coast and our neighbors Burundi, but I believe we should have had more. Despite that, I know that we are still in the race to qualify. We can dream about it, and for the remaining games of the group, we will work hard to win.
Kenya has never qualified for the World Cup. However, for USA ’26, Firat promised the team would give a strong shot.
Meanwhile, his immediate concern is the 2025 AFCON qualifiers, with Kenya playing back-to-back matches against Zimbabwe and Namibia.
Engin Firat, exclusively for Telecom Asia Sport
These are two very difficult games. Zimbabwe have a lot of individual qualities in their team and will not be an easy opponent. Namibia have become a very strong side and we saw how they performed at the last Cup of Nations. We have to try and get at least four points from these two games.
Kenya plays Zimbabwe on Friday, and face Namibia, four days later.
