The East African nation were drawn in Group A alongside two-time winners Morocco and DR Congo, as well as Angola and Zambia, in a pool packed with past champions and quality teams during the event held at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) with the 19 teams drawn into four groups on Wednesday, January 15th.
Kenya will take part in the eighth edition of the competition organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) by virtue of being the host nation. The tournament will be co-hosted in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
Tanzania were drawn in Group B and will take on Madagascar, Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Central African Republic while co-host Uganda were pooled in Group C and will come up against Niger, Guinea, Qualifier 1 and Qualifier 2.
The draw motivates Kenya even more
According to Kamau, who spoke exclusively to Flashscore after the draw was conducted by three East African football legends, Uganda’s Hassan Wasswa, Mrisho Ngasa of Tanzania and Kenya’s McDonald Mariga, Kamau, who handles Mathare United in the Kenyan Premier League believes they will go all the way with proper preparations
“It is a good draw, the draw itself motivated everyone, I am sure even you, and playing against nations like Morocco and the likes of Angola is a good motivation for the boys but the most important thing from the draw is what did we pick from it?” Kamau told Flashscore.
“Of course, we need to prepare and I think we need to start the preparations as early as possible, even if it means starting from today or tomorrow, and also the tournament being pushed to August, I will take it in a positive way because I think we were not ready to play in two weeks’ time.”
Kamau continued: “Being pushed to August give us a very humble time to prepare and I think the warm up (for preparations) started during the 2025 Mapinduzi Cup tournament and I think 80% of the squad is ready to play, and we only need to work on the remaining 20%, the most important thing is early preparations, as Kenyans we have a tendency of doing things very late, and it cannot happen in football.”
Kenya recently took part in the invitational Mapinduzi Cup where they failed to go past the group stage. They drew 1-1 against Burkina Faso, and defeated Tanzania 1-0 before losing by a similar scoreline to Zanzibar, who eventually defeated Burkina Faso to lift the trophy.
“We don’t need to be caught off-guard with late preparations, this team deserves to start preparations as early as now because it will be meaningless for the tournament to be pushed to August and then we don’t seize the opportunity to start preparations earlier enough so that we can produce a good team for the tournament,” explained Kamau.
Kenya have goodwill to perform well
Asked how it feels to be pooled alongside Morocco, Kamau responded: “In a football match we don’t talk of a gap or how strong your opponent is, we have seen a lot of surprises in tournaments and the most important thing is that we have the goodwill and we now have many stadiums being put in place and those are the basics we need and maybe a challenge to our official, let us not wait until it is too late.
“Put everything in order and we will give a good account of ourselves, we have what it takes to go all the way if we get humble preparations. We had the Mapinduzi Cup that gave us the platform, and the players know what we want, we have 80% of local players, who are ready and we need to get the remaining 20% ready, we need like a month of training sessions, and if we can manage to get that then the team will be more than ready.”
Kamau further outlined why Harambee Stars must build on their cohesion and character heading into the CHAN tournament.
“We used the Mapinduzi Cup to build a team and see the character of the players, not winning the trophy does not mean anything, we used it well and we now have a squad, but we will need to beef it up,” offered Kamau.
“CHAN is a tournament where all top African teams will participate, and in such type of tournaments, we will need to have character because in most cases we are meeting players, who are better exposed than our players, our football here in Kenya the trajectory is going up and we should improve on that and the most important thing is to give the players the aspect to win matches, let us not lie to ourselves, our league is not good enough.”
Kamau concluded: “In a nutshell, we need to look at our striking options, we have a problem in that department if you look at the league, teams win 1-0, 2-1, and that is not good enough, we need to build strikers and it is something teams in the league must work on. We have others we want to look at and will proceed when we get the time to start camp.”
CHAN postponement a blessing in disguise
According to FKF Vice-President Macdonald Mariga, the decision to postpone the tournament from February to August came at the right time for Kenya.
“It is a blessing because we now have enough time to get ready and I believe Kenya group is the toughest one, it is the group of death but with proper preparations, we have a good chance to perform well,” Mariga, who won the Uefa Champions League trophy with Inter Milan, told Flashscore.
Former Harambee Stars captain Victor Wanyama called on for early preparations to help the team go far in the tournament.
“We must begin preparations in earnest. I believe the boys have what it takes to advance from this group,” said Wanyama.
Meanwhile, FKF President Hussein Mohammed said the decision to postpone the tournament presents a unique opportunity for East Africa to prepare extensively, ensuring our infrastructure meets the highest standards.
“The decision to move CHAN 2024 to August presents a unique opportunity for East Africa to prepare extensively, ensuring our infrastructure meets the highest standards. This is not just about hosting a tournament - it’s about building a lasting legacy for football in our region,” said Mohammed.
He added: I extend my gratitude to CAF for their trust, FIFA for their continued support through initiatives like FIFA Forward, and our partners in Tanzania and Uganda for their collaboration. Together, we’re laying the groundwork for a tournament that will inspire generations and showcase the best of African talent.
“The road to CHAN 2024 begins now, and I am confident we will deliver an unforgettable event. Let’s work together to elevate football in East Africa and beyond.”
The tournament features national teams consisting of players currently playing in their respective local leagues. The DR Congo and Morocco are the most successful teams in this tournament with two titles each, followed by Tunisia, Libya and incumbent champions Senegal with one title each.