CAF Champions League Nightmare for Kenya Police as Al Hilal Match Clashes With Raila Odinga Day

Kenya Police’s CAF Champions League preparations have been disrupted following the death of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

Police are due to face Sudanese giants Al Hila in the first leg of their Champions League second preliminary round on Friday afternoon with the match scheduled to take place at Nyayo Stadium.

However, their preferred match venue is now not available while they could end up with little or no fans due to the state funeral of Odinga.

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Odinga’s body arrived in Kenya from India on Thursday morning and on Friday, a state funeral is set to be held at Nyayo Stadium. Friday has also been declared a public holiday in honour of the departed political maverick.

That presents a nightmare scenario for Police who were hoping to utilise Nyayo Stadium, which is preferred by most fans due to its easy accessibility, as they may have to move the match to Kasarani. Police have already requested the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to allow them move the match to another venue.

Further, being a holiday and the huge support Odinga enjoyed, fans are likely to stay indoors while some will make it to Nyayo for the funeral ceremony, therefore denying the law enforcers the much-needed support in the crucial encounter.

Police were looking to take advantage of home support to get a positive result that they will take to the second leg but will now have to do it the hard way.

There have also been calls to CAF to postpone the fixture to a later date and it remains to be seen if ‘Big Brother’ will respond but if they do not, Police will have to bite the bullet.