Stars next qualifier at Kasarani

Courtesy of Sir Charles Nyende/Nation Media Group The June deadline for Coca-Cola National Stadium to meet the minimum recommendations by Fifa to host an international match will not be met outgoing Sports Stadia Management Board chief executive officer Sam Mwai said on Tuesday. After Kenya's chaotic World Cup qualifier against Tunisia on March 28, Fifa made several must-meet recommendations including numbered seating, crowd segregation in tandem with ticket bought, building of a tunnel for player's entry, having a doping room and changing rooms of players and match officials being adjacent to each other. "All these renovations will take time. We have to put out tenders, get architects to draw up plans and such like things which cannot happen overnight," Mwai said. Football Kenya Limited secretary, Sammy Obingo, said the a decision will be made on where to play Kenya's next home match on June 20 against Mozambique after the football body meets with SSMB to review changes at Coca-Cola. Mwai said Moi International Sports Centre had all the facilities demanded by Fifa and was available for Kenya's international fixtures. "All the federation needs to do is to put in a request for the venue." A Fifa's Stadium and Security Committee meeting in Zurich on Tuesday approved that FKL and Football Association of Malawi were currently not in compliance with the world soccer body's safety regulations. The committee subsequently ordered that FKL will be required to reduce the stadium capacity in Nairobi to 60 percent for their next home World Cup qualifying campaign. Malawi was warned their next three home games will be moved away from the Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre if they do not comply with Fifa's safety regulations by May 15. MISC and Coca-Cola are the venues that have been inspected and passed by Fifa to host international football matches in Kenya. Coca-Cola Stadium has, however, had several security glitches that have raised concern. In 2005, a teenage fan was trampled to death following a stampede at an overcrowded Coca-Cola Stadium during a World Cup qualifier match between Kenya and Morocco. The federation was subsequently fined by Fifa and ordered to stage Kenya's next international match under closed doors. Kenya's last international, versus Tunisia at Coca-Cola was held up for several minutes either halves because fans had perched up on top of the stadium wall and refused to climb down. "Fifa has been uncomfortable with Coca-Cola Stadium because of the difficulty of controlling crowds. They even wanted us to sell only 10,000 tickets for the Tunisia matches."