Two days after the Federation of Kenyan Football sacked French tactician Sebastien Migne as Harambee Stars manager, Francis Kimanzi has been appointed as his permanent replacement.
Kimanzi who the Migne’s assistant will work with Zedekiah ‘Zico’ Otieno to try and Salvage Harambee Stars’ fortunes. Migne was the man in charge of the team that saw Kenya participate in AFCON after a 15 years absence from the tourney. His last assignment was the second leg CHAN qualifier match against the Taifa Stars.
Kimanzi has experience with the national team having coached Stars in two different spells between November 2008 and January 2009 and later from November 2011 to June 2012. His assistant Zico has also previously handled the senior team between December 2010 and December 2011, and it remains unclear if he will step down from his role as KCB FC head coach.
His appointment comes as a relief to Kenyans who were asking the Federation to promote local products rather than importing coaches from Europe. Judging from the recent African Cup of Nations, local managers have the potential to perform even better than those imported from Europe.
The two teams that faced each other in the Afcon 2019 final are both managed by local coaches with Aliou Cisse managing Senegal and Djamel Belmadi managing Algeria the Champions of Africa.
These two local coaches had both represented their respective countries during their playing days and currently doing a good job as head coaches. Under Aliou Cisse Senegal outperforming other African teams during the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
The notion that foreign managers have more to offer than our local coaches is one thing that is ailing African Football. These managers are no better than our very own coaches and the 2019 African Cup of Nations is proof. The two finalists, Algeria and Senegal, are both managed by their own coaches.
Why then do football governing bodies pay foreign managers a lot of money to deliver losses that our own African coaches can deliver at an affordable price? Why pay more to lose matches when you can still get these losses cheaper?
FKF have decided to give it a try with the 2-year contract they have signed with Francis Kimanzi. Kimanzi is one of the most qualified Kenyan coaches as he holds UEFA badges.
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