FKF to appeal Harambee Starlets Awcon exclusion at CAS

What you need to know:

  • FKF president Nick Mwendwa said they will file a case at the Court Of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) seeking to overturn the Confederation of African Football's decision to bar Starlets from competing at the continental championship.

Football Kenya Federation has said they explore legal avenues to temporarily halt the 2018 Africa Women's Cup of Nations from taking place unless Harambee Starlets are allowed to take part in the competition.

Speaking exclusively to Nation Sport, FKF president Nick Mwendwa said they will file a case at the Court Of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) seeking to overturn the Confederation of African Football's decision to bar Starlets from competing at the continental championship.

This after Caf on Wednesday reversed its decision to replace Kenya with Equatorial Guinea at the biannual showpiece.

Based in Lausenne, Switzerland, CAS is the ultimate conflict resolution body in the world of sports.

Equatorial Guinea defeated Kenya 3-2 on aggregate to qualify for the Cup of Nations competition in June 2018, but Kenya successfully filed a protest at Caf seeking to disqualify the Central Africans from the competition on the basis they had fielded an ineligible player namely Anette Jacky Messomo.

"This is a complete joke," Mwendwa said of Caf's Appeals Committee decision.

"That lady is a Cameroonian and not from Equatorial Guinea. Now I am told they (Equatorial Guinea) came with new papers and yet the laws are clear. You cannot come up with new evidence during that time of an Appeal."

"We have the fixtures. Caf must include us in the tournament and have nine teams (instead of eight) taking part, or we are going to CAS."

Meanwhile, Starlets remain in camp at the Utalii hotel in Nairobi, hours after drawing 1-1 win Ghana in a build-up match on Wednesday. The Africa Women's Nations Cup is set to take place in Ghana between November 17 and December 1 and Kenya had been pooled in Group B against South Africa, Nigeria and Zambia.