The Football Kenya Federation (FKF) has given up on efforts to pay former coach Adel Amrouche and is ready for any sanctions to be meted out by the world governing body, Fifa.
The Federation was ordered to pay the Algerian-born Ksh109m for wrongful dismissal from his position as the Harambee Stars head coach by April 23 (on Thursday) and according to the FKF president Nick Mwendwa, they have done all they could but was unable to find a solution.
“We have tried our best to make sure we pay [Amrouche] as ordered by Fifa but we have reached a dead-end,” Mwendwa told Goal on Tuesday.
“We have tried all possible ways to get money but in vain, we have written to Fifa for more time so we can get money but I don’t think they will listen to us, we have also been engaging the government but now they have the coronavirus issues they are dealing with and it won’t be possible.
“We cannot do anything now, the deadline is on [Thursday] and we don’t have the money, all we will wait for now is Fifa position, if they take the decision to ban us [from World Cup qualifiers], it will not be the end of the world, we will have another year to compete in the same qualifier.”
Mwendwa further said if Fifa takes the decision to ban them, they will channel their efforts to nurture talent ahead of the next World Cup qualifiers.
“I want to tell Kenyan it will not be the end of the world,” Mwendwa continued.
“We have several qualifiers coming up, we have Afcon, we have Chan, we have women qualifiers, we have U17, U20, U23 teams which will be active during the same period we are supposed to play in the World Cup qualifiers so I don’t think it will be a blow as such.”
A possible disciplinary measure against the FKF is throwing Kenya out of the 2022 Qatar World Cup qualifiers, in the same manner Zimbabwe was ejected from the qualification process of the same competition in 2018.
The Harambee Stars under coach Francis Kimanzi, are pooled in Group E of the Qatar qualifiers alongside Mali, Uganda, and Rwanda.
Fifa expelled Zimbabwe from the 2018 World Cup qualifiers for a similar offence in March 2015 after their FA failed to pay Brazilian coach Jose Claudinei Georgini ‘Valinhos’ his dues.
Apart from removing Kenya from World Cup qualifying rounds, Fifa could alternatively divert development funds meant for Kenya to settle Amrouche’s debt and also institute other disciplinary actions on the federation.