Sports

Players transfers dilemma: Movement during current transfer window impossible

Thursday, January 13th, 2022 07:00 | By
Yusuf Mainge of Gor Mahia FC (R) vies for the ball against Danson Kago of Mathare United during their FKF-PL match played at Kasarani Stadium, Nairobi on January 9 2021. Photo/PD/RODGERS NDEGWA

Local football players and clubs are in a dilemma three days after the Fifa transfer window officially opened.

The window that opened on Monday, always allows clubs to offload players who have failed to match their expectations as they make new recruitments to beef up their sides for better results.

Players on the other hand also use the period to re-negotiate their contracts or join a team of their choice, depending on the suitors available.

This is, however, not the case this time since the Football Caretaker Committee appointed three months ago by Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed to oversee the running of the sport for six months after she disbanded Football Kenya Federation (FKF), does not have the powers to oversee the movement of players and coaches.

Mandate to run

World football governing body Fifa which has never given the Caretaker Committee the mandate to run the sport in the country, are said to be reluctant to share the Fifa Connect link with the committee to enable the transfers.

During previous transfer windors, Fifa used to share the link with FKF Chief Executive Officer Barry Otieno who through the federation’s competitions department, enabled the smooth and systematic movement of players and coaches.

The FIFA Connect Programme helps member associations register all their stakeholders in a systematic way and keep track of players, coaches and referees – wherever they are in the world.

The Connect Programme provides a unique FIFA ID code for every individual who has a role in the football organisation.

This code is like a digital football passport number and has the information of the history of each stakeholder.

If an MA has a computer registration system already in place, it can connect to the ecosystem provided by FIFA Connect though the Connect ID Service.

If it does not, FIFA provides the Connect Platform Registration System and the Connect Competition Management System (CMS) to help jump-start the registration of football stakeholders and digital management of competitions.

Without the FIFA Connect Program, any move done manually would not be recognised by the global body.

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