FKF challenged to emulate Spain, establish own football playing system

FKF has been challenged by grassroots coach Silvester Mutua to come up with a unique playing system that can be easily identified with the country.

Citing examples from football giant Spain, Mutua discussed the importance of having such a system in place.

“Where we are headed as a country, we need to introduce a unique system of play for Kenya. A style of play that we will be identified with just as Spain is identified by the tikitaka philosophy.

“We need to come up with our own system, and we need to develop and implement it from scratch to the top level,” Mutua said.

Coaching courses

Mutua is a beneficiary of the recent coaching courses conducted by the federation and has explained the benefits of such studies.

“It is (the coaching course) a good opportunity that has helped us learn more about football, gain more coaching skills, and gain new information.

“Through the knowledge gained from this course, I have managed to scout and mold players into better ones.

“I have coached the players from tender ages to more senior ages. These courses are good because they help one handle even young players and produce a good product in the end,” Mutua added.

The knowledge acquired, Mutua argues, will help identify and develop talents around the country.

“From this knowledge, I will become a top coach equipped with information to handle elite players.

“Over 6,000 coaches have been trained across the country, and this means every region in the country now has a trained coach. The players at the grassroots levels are now being handled by trained coaches,” he continued.

Mutua has been developing talents in Machakos County since he underwent a training session in 2016. The FKF established such training sessions in all its branches, which aim to empower tacticians.

Mutua handled Scotlanders FC and helped them qualify for Division Two.

He enrolled in the FKK Basic Advance Coaching Course and, subsequently, the CAF C License. He recently attended a CAF B License course at the Kenya School of Special Studies (KISE) that ran for four months.

FKF President Nick Mwendwa presided over the course, where 25 participants were trained and awarded.

Harambee Starlets assistant coach and Mathare United Ladies’ Ann Aluoch were among the coaches who strained.

Others were Nzoia Sugar Coach Salim Babu and his Nairobi City Stars’ counterpart Nicholas Muyoti, as well as Mathare United’s Collins Omondi.

Mwendwa highlighted the impact of such training sessions on the identification and development of talents. To Mwendwa, Kenyan leagues, including the FKF Premier League and the National Super League, will incredibly benefit from such training.

“There’s an immeasurable impact brought by these coaching courses.

“Coaches in the FKF Premier League, FKF National Super League, etc, have been able to go through these courses, and through it, we are able to scout better football talent and bring about an overall growth of the game in the country,” Mwendwa said.

According to Muyoti, the training will help transform the coaches, leading to wider development.

“Football is changing, and I believe with these courses we are able to improve on how we are going to coach our players to make sure at the elite level our fans are seeing good football,” the former Thika United coach said.

The FKF coaching courses are guided by former Mathare United head coach Salim Ali and Leonard Odipo.

Although FKF has been running such courses, AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia, Kenya’s famous and most successful clubs, are under foreign tacticians. Patrick Aussems is in charge of Ingwe, while Johnathan McKinstry is at the helm of K’Ogalo.

Even the national team, Harambee Stars, is managed by Engin Firat from Turkey.