Key lessons Kenyan football can learn from Gor Mahia’s experience in CECAFA Kagame Cup 2024

Over the past week, record Kenyan champions Gor Mahia travelled to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to take part in the regional Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) Kagame Cup 2024 that was making its return for the first time since 2021.

The tournament marked the start of K’Ogalo’s preparations for the 24/25 season where they will be representing the country in the CAF Champions League having once again lifted the league title without breaking too much sweat.

According to most fans, Gor Mahia were a proper disappointment having failed to at least make it out of the group stages of the 12-team tournament.

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Placed in the group of death alongside Sudan giants Al Hilal, Zambian champions Red Arrows and Djibouti outfit ASAS Djibouti Telecom, K’Ogalo indeed found the going tough as they managed only one point from three pool games.

They were beaten 1-0 by Arrows in the opener, drew 1-1 against Telecom before succumbing to a 0-2 defeat against Florent Ibenge’s Hilal in the final clash, painting a picture of the levels of Kenyan football.

Having covered the team throughout their one-week stay in Dar, here are a couple of key lessons that Gor Mahia and Kenyan football can take from the experience in the CECAFA Kagame Cup 2024.

K’Ogalo need to think outside Kenyan football levels

Having been crowned Kenyan champions for a record-extending 21st time in the 23/24 season, Gor Mahia keep proving that even at their worst, no team is likely to challenge their dominance locally anytime soon.

Of the last eleven valid seasons, Gor has won league titles in nine campaigns. However, that dominance has not translated outside the country where they have struggled to leave a mark on most occasions.

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In Tanzania, their level was wanting as they struggled to create chances and lacked organization in transitioning from defense to attack.

You can cut them some slack as they are under new Brazil coach Leo Neiva who just arrived at the start of July. The team also, bigly, missed the creativity of Austin Odhiambo who was their standout player last season.

Their lack of experience outside Kenya was also exposed, leaving them with huge work to do moving forward.

Having already taken part in the CECAFA Kagame Cup and planning to play in the Coal City International Cup from 1-11 August in Nigeria before their First Preliminary Round tie in the CAF Champions League, Gor Mahia should use the opportunity to find ways of moving beyond the Kenyan league slowly but surely.

Yanga will be headed to South Africa for their preseason while Simba is headed to Egypt. The two sides have consistently sought for better preparation and it is time Gor start doing the same.

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Time to move to artificial facilities in Kenya?

Kenyan football has, for a long time, relied on natural surfaces for its football. The challenge has been that facilities have never been enough and the ones that are there have not been well taken care of.

I was impressed by how Tanzania has a number of working artificial surfaces that serve well.

The Azam Complex in Chamazi and the KMC Stadium in Kinondoni were the two venues used for the CECAFA Kagame Cup tournament and both are artificial surfaces.

That aside, the training venues that Gor used were small and tidy artificial surfaces that served the purpose and allowed good football to be played.

Kenya’s obsession with large stadiums that are costly to construct and difficult to maintain needs to stop moving forward.

Keep Nyayo and Kasarani but get more of Dandora Complexes in different parts of the country.

PS: The Azam Complex and the St. Mary's Stadium in Kitende, Uganda are artificial surfaces and have been approved to host CAF competitions.

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Yanga and Simba drive the country’s football

Ask any random person in the street which team they support, and it will be Yanga or Simba.

They follow through that passion by purchasing merchandise from their clubs, attending matches and keeping the football conversation going.

A survey done for the 23/24 Tanzanian Premier League showed that Yanga and Simba raked in over 40 million from gate collections and had over one hundred thousand spectators visiting their matches.

During Gor Mahia’s stay at the Kagame Cup, Burkina Faso international Stephane Aziz Ki opted to stay at Yanga. It was the talk of town and made headlines everywhere.

Back at home, Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards are supposed to be doing that. But how do they even start if K’Ogalo cannot access its social media pages and they unveil their new coach in a private office without the media in this age and time?

How do they do that if their fans do not even know where the teams train or their assistant coaches?

There is a long way to go!

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Social media still a foreign concept to us

In this age and time, everything is communicated on social media. Content is king as they say. But for our clubs, social media is still a foreign concept.

In Tanzania, not a day passes without Yanga and Simba or even the teams in the league posting updates to their fans.

Back at home, media teams are as good as non-existent. The team’s leaders do not even value their presence in the first place.

If not for people sacrificing their own time and skills for meagre peanuts in return, nothing would be going on in the social spaces.

Their efforts, however much appreciated, are still not enough. Posting training pics, matchday photos, starting lineups and matchday updates is not enough!

Teams in Kenya should be reminded of the power of social media. They only need to look at the Gen Z organization if they happen to doubt the power of social media.

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