Harambee Starlets Coach Reveals Recipe For WAFCON 2026 Qualification as She Issues Plea to FKF

Harambee Starlets coach Beldine Odemba has opened up on what drove her team to qualify for the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.

Kenya last featured at WAFCON in 2016 and since then, they have been knocking on the door but failing, with a heartbreaking final round qualification loss to Botswana for the 2024 tournament.

However, on the road to 2026, there were less bumps on the road as Kenya eliminated Tunisia, beating them 1-0 on aggregate in Tunis, before they thrashed The Gambia 4-1 on aggregate in the final round to make their return to the tournament.

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Over the course of that journey, Odemba has come under criticism for her tactics and selection but she stuck to her guns and ended up silencing her detractors with WAFCON qualification.

“It is not about me, it is about the country. The country has qualified after nine years,” Odemba said after the match.

“Beldine Odemba is the coach but she did not qualify. Kenya qualified for the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations 2026. Kenyans are happy and I am also happy. This is for my country and football fans.”

Odemba then shared some of the secrets to success, explaining how they managed to scale their way back to the big time.

“Unity in the team, great spirit and also the time [of waiting]. It has been nine years so we kept on reminding ourselves that it has been nine years so how long can we wait?” she went on.

“The girls were really spirited, the technical bench was awesome. We worked together as a team but we thank God because he came through for us as a country and as a team.”

Now that they have qualified, the Harambee Starlets coach has issued a passionate plea to her bosses at Football Kenya Federation to ensure their pre-WAFCON preparations are good enough so that they do not go to Morocco next year to make up the numbers.

“We have to ensure they prepare well. I thank the President of the Republic for the motivation, it is something and it worked,” said the former Kenya Police Bullets coach.

“I urge the federation and the Ministry of Sports to please allow us to have good preparations before we go to WAFCON because we do not want to go as participants, we want to go and compete.”