Football Kenya Federation chief executive officer Barry Otieno has urged local coaches to seek professional qualifications that will enable them raise the standards of football in the country.
Otieno spoke on Monday after presiding over the opening ceremony of a ten-day CAF 'D' coaching course at the Ligi Ndogo grounds in Nairobi.
“As part of our larger vision to create capacity for our local coaches, we have arranged for an FKF ‘D’ License coaching course for existing coaches and former players,” said Otieno.
“Basically, this is to try and improve on the number of coaches we have trained and ensure that players at the youth level are managed by people who have knowledge on how age0group training should be done.”
The course has attracted former players, including James Situma who once plied trade for Sofapaka, Tusker and Mathare United, as well as Joakins Atudo who hang up his boots at the end of last season after being nudged aside by a nasty injury.
“We are happy we have 43 participants attending the course who include former international players, upcoming coaches — among them five women. This is key to women's football development in the country,” said Otieno.
“The issue is to have a pool of coaches who then cannot only coach our local clubs but also can coach at the national team level.”
“For a very long time, football has not been handled in the right way. We have not trained the number of coaches we would have wanted. Since 2016, we've trained more than 4,000 coaches.
Otieno said they hoped to train more coaches at the top level, adding plans were at an advanced stage to roll out Caf A and Caf B courses in the near future.
“The vision is to have at least 10,000 maybe within the next eight years, have at least 100 or so at Caf A, 200 at Caf B and 500 at Caf C so that coaching is not an issue and clubs can bring in local coaches who can perform; coaches who can handle kids in the right way,” said Otieno.
“We have upcoming courses in Caf C and one refresher course for coaches who had done Caf C but were not given certificates. Hopefully, we'll apply to Caf to have a Caf B and then a Caf A,” he added.
Atudo urged ex-players to take advantage of the courses, observing it would give them the extra edge at the touchline apart from the experience they had gathered over the years on the pitch.
“Though I have a lot of experience as a player, it is important to have the qualifications. It will add a lot to me. It is important for former players to consider doing the course because it involves many other things such as physio,” said Atudo
Situma said it was also important for those tasked with managing teams to apply for the courses.
“It's important for former players because they need that knowledge to be aware of what is required of them. Playing alone does not give one all the knowledge needed,” said Situma.
“Club administrators also stand to benefit immensely from such courses,” he added.
