History-making Kenya Under-17 women’s national team coach Mildred Cheche has been named as the top coach in the country for the month of March after guiding the team to the third round of the 2025 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers.

Cheche, a CAF B license holder is the first recipient of the Betika/SJAK Coach of The Month award after she impressed the Sports Journalist of Kenya panel, beating Kenya Police FC coach Etienne Ndayiragije and Kabras Sugar rugby team coach Carlos Katya.

As they cruise for another World Cup qualification this year, the impressive and fans darling Junior Starlets walloped Uganda 5-0 on aggregate last month, convincingly thrashing the Teen Queens 2-0 at their backyard in Kampala and finishing the job in Nairobi with another stellar 3-0 performance.

Last year, coach Cheche made an indelible mark in the history of Kenya football when she became the first coach to lead a team to a FIFA world Cup tournament and the team played with vigor and excitement at the tourney in the Dominican Republic.

After her announcement at the Kasarani Stadium where the team is camping ahead of their Sunday third round showdown against Cameroon, coach Cheche was full of gratitude to Betika and the Sports Journalist association for honoring her, dedicating the award to her players and members of the technical bench.

“It feels amazing and I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to Betika and the SJAK team for awarding me with this beautiful trophy. It is a great gesture of recognizing female coaches that are doing some good work in the communities and at the national level.

“This is a great motivator and for sure I have more pressure to deliver three points on Sunday. I dedicate this award to my players and the other members of the technical bench for helping me to get here,” Cheche remarked smilingly.

For that feat, the former MYSA player received a trophy and a cash reward of Sh100,000.

Betika Marketing Manager Japheth Akhulia underscored the company’s commitment in nurturing Kenya’s sporting talents through different platforms as he delivered congratulatory words to coach Cheche.

“The SJAK panel did not go wrong in selecting Cheche for this award. She is doing a commendable job for the nation and as Betika, we wish her success in the coming matches as she works towards qualifying the country to the World Cup. We are happy to partner with SJAK to award the coaches because we have been awarding the stars on the field but behind the scenes we have the coaches who give everything to make the stars shine.”

“As Betika through the Betika Na Community program we always look for opportunities that we can support. We know that there are a lot of talents in the country and we are committed to giving them platforms to showcase themselves,” Akhulia said.

SJAK President James Waindi thanked Betika for the partnership that enables them to award the excellent coaches in the countries.

“As SJAK, we would like to thank our sponsors Betika for making this possible. This partnership of awarding outstanding coaches in the country will be impactful in motivating the nation’s sporting realm for better results either internationally or locally.”

Junior Starlets will battle Cameroon on Sunday from 3pm at the Nyayo Stadium and the return leg will be staged in Yaounde on Friday, April 25. The aggregate winner of the matches will book a ticket to the 2025 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco later this year.