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After a series of high profile international friendly build-up matches for the men national football team Harambee Stars, the time to prove their mettle is here with two 2026 World Cup Qualifying games on the cards this month for the Engine Firat-coached side.

Kenya will pay both games away in West Africa, the first game being against Pierre Aubameyang’s struggling Gabon.

The second fixture will be against Seychelles and the game will be played in Ivory Coast due to lack of a facility that is of the standards required by FIFA and CAF in Seychelles.

Gabon Football Federation has confirmed that the match against Harambee Stars will be staged at the Stade de la Rénovation in the city of Franceville,Southeast of Gabon on November 16.

Harambee Stars is expected to camp in Gabon at the start of the international break on November 13 and the details of the camp will be given later by the Football Kenya Federation.

The match against ‘The Panthers’ will be the first official game for Kenya since the return of normalcy at the Kenyan federation after the FIFA suspension that paralysed the local game for over a year.

Gabon is also closely monitoring the football situation after a series of poor results that saw them miss out on a qualification berth for the next year’s African Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast.

The team finished third in the qualification campaign behind group I leaders DRC and Mauritania.
Gabon hopes of making it to the African football extravaganza were dashed in the last matches of the journey following three consecutive defeats against Sudan,DRC and Mauritania.

The results saw Frenchman Patrice Neveu shown the door and replaced by former Gabon player Thierry Mouyouma who led the team to a 1-1 draw in a international friendly game against Guinea on November 17.

Football Kenya Federation has a busy schedule this November with three teams going out for crucial fixtures.

Rising Starlets have a date with Cameroon in third round of the FIFA U20 Women’s Qualifiers.The first leg is set for November 13 in Doula while return leg is scheduled for November 17 in Nairobi.

The senior ladies team, the Harambee Starlets will report to camp on November 17 and will host Botswana in Nairobi on November 29 before traveling to Gaborone to complete the job on December 5 for the second leg of the African Women’s Cup of Nations Qualifiers.

The winner of the tie will book a ticket for the continent’s premier women showpiece that will be staged in Morocco next year.