SPORT: Kenya’s Gor Mahia slams door on foreign players

Kenyan league champions Gor Mahia will not sign any foreign players in future, the club’s chairman said, after it was expelled from the CAF Champions League for breaching player contract terms.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) revoked Gor Mahia’s club licensing certificate on Friday after the club failed to honour payment agreements with three former players from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mali.

As a result, the club has been booted out of the CAF Champions League whose preliminary rounds draw will be held in Cairo on Tuesday.

Gor Mahia chairman Ambrose Rachier said late Sunday the club would not sign any foreign players for the foreseeable future.

“It looks like many of the foreign-based players we have been signing only come here to cause us problems and take money without giving us value,” Rachier told Nairobi-based Radio 47.

“We’ve had a discussion as the top leadership of the club, and for now we are not going to sign any foreign player,” he added.

Gor Mahia was sanctioned by FIFA in 2021 after Congolese striker Sando Yangayay and Malian goalkeeper Adama Keita complained about breaches of contract and the club was barred from signing and registering new players for two years.

However, the transfer ban was lifted early this year after the club reached an agreement with the two players to pay their outstanding dues by May 31, thus allowing the Kenyan champions to participate in the CAF’s club competitions this season.

But on Friday the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) announced the revoking of the club’s licensing certificate after Gor Mahia failed to settle the payments within the set CAF timelines.