FIFA tell FKL to reduce Coke capacity ahead of next round of qualifiers

Resurgent enthusiasm about their national team Harambee Stars may continue to be a headache to Kenyans as Fifa ordered that the country reduces the number of people going to the stadium for international matches.

Fifa has ordered Kenyan soccer authorities -- Football Kenya -- to reduce the capacity of Nairobi's Coca Cola to 60% for their upcoming 2010 World Cup qualifiers.

Fifa are concerned that Kenya have not fully applied all their safety recommendations in recent matches. The football's world governing body believe that a reduced capacity will help Football Kenya to fully implement all their safety requirements.

Last year Kenyan matches involving Guinea and Zimbabwe at the 30,000 capacity Nairobi stadium were oversubscribed. This year, despite inflated gate entry fees, the stadium could not accommodate all those who wanted to watch the Kenya v Tunisia qualifying match causing fearful overcrowding.

ANOTHER STADIUM

Nairobi has a 60,000 capacity stadium on the North Western suburbs not favoured by low-income soccer fans who complain about extra costs of transport to the International Sports Centre, Kasarani, 20 kilometres from the city centre.

The FK secretary general, Sammy Obingo said on Monday evening that in coming three days the federation will be looking into means of complying with the Fifa instructions.

"This actually means selling as few as only 10,000 tickets for Coca Cola Stadium which translates in us putting the cheapest ticket at a minimum Sh700 (approximately $10) for us to cover costs of hosting the match."

MORE FACILITIES

Obingo said Fifa had also made demands for structural re-enforcements and putting up of several other facilities at the stadium.

"The stadium owners [the Kenya Government] are aware of the Fifa demands but what we hear from them is that there is no money to make the improvements," said Obingo.

Kenya and Malawi are some of the countries that have been ordered to improve security in their stadiums ahead of their upcoming 2010 World Cup qualifiers.

Malawi could play their next three home games outside their country if several structural and maintenance issues with the Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre are not resolved by May 15.

This comes as Fifa calls for its members to do everything possible to prevent stadium tragedies such as the most recent in Cote d'Ivoire just last month, nineteen fans died as Cote d'Ivoire beat Malawi 5-0 in a World Cup qualifier.

© Kenyan Premier League