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Harambee Stars will feature in the prestigious southern Africa COSAFA Cup tournament following a late invitation to replace Malawi.
Harambee Stars will feature in the COSFA Cup set to take place in South Africa from June 26-July 7.
Kenya have been invited to the tournament, which is played by countries from southern Africa, after Malawi pulled out.
Football Kenya Federation president Nick Mwendwa confirmed the development on Sunday with the tournament set to give the national team more experience following their outing at the 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Burundi and Ivory Coast.
The draw for the tournament was conducted on Friday and Kenya are likely to land in Group B which has Zambia, Comoros and Zimbabwe.
Harambee Stars played against Zimbabwe in the Four Nations tournament in March, beating them 3-1 to win the trophy which will boost their confidence ahead of the tournament.
Record seven-time winners Zambia will be looking to become the first team to win three COSAFA Cup titles in a row if they can navigate the group.
Hosts South Africa and Botswana will lock horns yet again in the most played fixture in COSAFA Cup history after landing in Group A.
The draw for the 12 teams pitted the neighbours together for the ninth COSAFA Cup tournament in a row, with Botswana yet to win outright in any of their 12 previous meetings.
Mozambique and Eswatini make up the other sides in what is sure to be a hotly-contested Group A.
Last year’s runners-up Lesotho are in Group C along with three-time winners Angola, 2015 champions Namibia and Seychelles.
The pool games will be played from June 26-July 3, with the semifinals on July 5 and the final and third-place play-off to be staged two days later.
The format ensures each country will play a minimum of three games up to a maximum of five over the course of the competition.
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