'Stop signing foreign gold diggers' - Shimanyula warns Gor Mahia, AFC Leopards

© Gor Mahia

FOOTBALL 'Stop signing foreign gold diggers' - Shimanyula warns Gor Mahia, AFC Leopards

Kiplagat Sang • 18:07 - 24.07.2023

Both Kenyan giants have had to deal with cases lodged at FIFA by foreign players and coaches.

Kakamega Homeboyz chairman Cleophas Shimanyula has yet again called out Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards for signing and appointing foreign players and coaches.

Shimanyula's comments come after Gor Mahia were locked out of the CAF Champions League for failing to meet the club licensing regulations.

"I am really mad at what has happened to Gor Mahia, and you cannot blame FKF on this; it is very hurtful that Homeboyz will not be able to represent Kenya alongside Gor Mahia," Shimanyula said.

"It was my dream to go for CAF action with Gor, but it is unfortunate they are now out just because of signing foreign players, who end up giving them no value. 

"This needs to be a good lesson to Gor and especially AFC; they need to do away with the appetite for signing foreign players and coaches because they end up hurting them more than they get from them season in and season out."

"It is not a must that we go for these foreigners outside our region; they are all gold diggers coming to make money (without performing) and then go. 

"We have a crop of good players in Uganda and even Tanzania who can play very well in the Kenyan league and produce positive results; why can’t AFC and Gor sign them? Must they go for foreigners beyond the region to be their coaches?"

With a technical bench and a playing unit dominated by local talents, Kakamega Homeboyz won the FKF Cup and will now represent the country in the CAF Confederation Cup. Homeboyz' success is something that Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards must learn from, according to Shimanyula.

"Now look, Homeboyz won the FKF Cup with a local coach while AFC Leopards finished the season without a trophy under a foreign coach, and the same coach has now taken AFC to FIFA demanding Ksh18 million. It is time our top teams borrowed a leaf from what Homeboyz and other teams in the league do," he claimed.

"At Homeboyz, the farthest we have gone to sign a foreigner is in Uganda and Tanzania, and you can never see us complaining. We have already been cleared to play in CAF. The least number of foreign players we can have at Homeboyz is two, otherwise, we also have good talent in Kenya, and that is where we get most of our players."