The Kenya Amputee Football Federation (KAFF) is set to inaugurate the KAFF national league come January 2024.The federation, which recently launched the Kenya Women’s National Amputee Football team, will be looking to tap into amputee talents in various counties across the country.The league will be made up of 12 teams.Launch of the first women amputee football team in Kenya!! Excited to be part of history on #WorldDisabilityDay2023! This is only but the beginning! Huge thanks to @Nedy_atieno9 for coming through; it means so much to us and the girls! #Amputeefootball #Wethe15 pic.twitter.com/7w5aIo500x— Judith Macharia (@macharia_judith) December 3, 2023 Speaking during the official launch of the women’s amputee national team, head coach Dalmas Otieno called for the support of various bodies in making the far-fetched dream come true.”We have a plan to start a national league in January which will consist of 12 county teams. We have about 12 counties that have already registered for the league,” Otieno said.The coach, who played for Turkey during his heydays, also counted on various corporations to hold their hands and help to grow the one-of-a-kind league.Otieno retired from active playing during the Covid-stricken period in 2020.##NAJAVA_MECA_7729734##”We hope to get enough sponsors to showcase our games on national TV, just like the normal league. These people are still normal, just that they are missing a leg or hand. They are mothers, sisters, brothers. We want people to support us so that we can have a proper league that will include the ladies too,” the tactician averred.Coach Otieno, who has been with the team for close to 14 years now, has led them to two world cups.Their first one was in 2014 in Mexico, before they competed in the 2018 World Cup in the same country where they were ranked 12th globally.The team also competed in the Africa Cup of Nations in 2021, where they managed sixth place in Africa.Reflecting on their past triumphs, the tactician pointed out that it has not been a walk in the park.For instance, in both World Cups, the team played with borrowed jerseys.Amputee World Cup update;FT: Kenya 2-1 USAThe national amputee football team started their Amputee WC campaign on a high beating USA 2-1 in their opener.Just as interesting is the fact that the team wore kits sponsored by & bearing Nbi Governor Mike Sonko’s #TeamSonko logo. pic.twitter.com/kE1iG17D7y— Idah Waringa (@IdahWaringa) October 30, 2018 In the 2018 World Cup, they were forced to use Team Sonko jerseys, which sparked an uproar from sports lovers in Kenya. Despite the hurdle, they went on to be ranked 12/24 countries.”We lack support from the government. We went to Mexico without official jerseys. We borrowed uniforms from our fans to play the World Cup matches. We performed very well, and despite having minimal training due to lack of support, we beat the USA, Ireland, and Liberia. It shows that if we get more support, we could become champions,” the coach lamented.He was also concerned with the short time at residential camps before matches.According to Otieno, players normally get a week or two of training before international competitions with more prepared teams.Coach Otieno was however pleased with the steps so far, noting that the formation of the women’s team added a feather to their achievement’s cap.Ondiek ‘likely’ to resume training next weekHe was optimistic that the ladies too would compete in the World Cup come November 2024.He also foresees a future where each county would have a full amputee football team, as well as the country producing international players, just like him.”Looking back at where we started as the men’s team, the journey has not been easy. Being able to bring up the ladies’ team; we have the World Cup next year in Colombia and I am sure we have the best team. At the moment, players are coming from Nairobi, but as we advance we will go for Mashinani players,” the coach concluded.
