Football Kenya Federation (FKF) has petitioned the Confederation of African Football (Caf) to postpone their Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier against Comoros over the coronavirus.
The decision by the Kenyan federation to write to the African body comes just two days after the Kenyan government moved to ban all conferences and meetings of more than 15 people of international nature for the next month.
The government also banned flights from specific countries that are affected by the COVID-19 virus as a precautionary measure to curb the spread of the virus in Kenya.
FKF CEO President Nick Mwendwa has exclusively told Goal they have requested Caf to give a new date for the qualifier set for March 25 at Kasarani Stadium and are waiting for their response.
“We have written to Caf seeking to have the upcoming qualifier against Comoros postponed to a later date owing to the coronavirus,” Mwendwa told Goal on Tuesday.
“We are acting as per the directive from the government which banned all meetings involving over 15 people and we have explained to Caf the directive from the government.
“We don’t want to take a risk now that most of the players in the Comoros squad play in France and it is one of the countries which has been affected hard by the virus. We are over 45 million people and it will be wrong if the first case of coronavirus is detected in Kenya because of football.
“We are hoping Caf will listen to our request and call off the match but if they don’t, then we will wait for the government to give the way forward.”
Last week, the Caf secretariat sent a communique saying they were monitoring the situation in Africa before they give a directive. So far no coronavirus case has been reported in Kenya, but countries like Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria, and Morocco have had isolated cases.
Harambee Stars squad of local-based players have already moved to camp ahead of the qualifier with foreign-based players set to join in the coming week.
However, if the match goes ahead, Kenya will miss the services of towering striker Michael Olunga, who plays for Kashiwa Reysol of Japan, the same as Algerian-based striker Masoud Juma owing to the virus.
Kenya is lying second in Group G of the qualifiers after picking two draws against Egypt (away in Cairo) and Togo in Nairobi while Comoros are sitting top on four points after beating Togo in Lome and drawing with Egypt.
