FKF's Mwendwa should resign for taking Kenyan football backwards - Mariga twitter facebook reddit twitter facebook reddit

Former Harambee Stars midfielder MacDonald Mariga has blamed current Football Kenya Federation president Nick Mwendwa for the deteriorating standards of the sport in the country and called on him to resign from his position.

The 34-year-old, who earned 40 caps with Kenya's national team and managed to score five goals before hanging up his boots, has criticised Mwendwa and his regime for running down the sport in the seven years they have been in office.

Mariga, who made history as the first Kenyan footballer to play in the Uefa Champions League, for Inter Milan on March 16, 2010, has also called on the FKF boss to apologise to Kenyans after his comments immediately after the team lost two matches against Mali in the World Cup qualifiers.

During a recent live TV interview, Mwendwa claimed Kenya was beaten by Mali 5-0 in Morocco and 1-0 in Nairobi because they don't have quality players.

"For seven years under his Nick [Mwendwa] leadership, football in Kenya has gone backwards and no progress whatsoever and for that, we demand his immediate apology and resignation as FKF boss," Mariga wrote on his social media pages.

"We suffered playing under his reign, the players have shown immense pride and patriotism to represent the Kenyan flag in various international assignments and this is what they get in return.

"I'm appalled by Mwendwa's sentiments made on live TV that Kenya has no talented football players to compete with other nations.

"This is an insult and disrespect to the current, former, and all upcoming footballers who have continuously suffered playing, and it is time for Mwendwa to go."

On making his claims, Mwendwa said: "Even if you bring Mourinho, even if you bring Arteta [they will struggle with Harambee Stars].

"The work that needs to be done is that we need to bring the talent to the table. For you to win, you need quality players. You guys know Moussa Djenepo, do we have a player like him?

"We have to build him and that is the reason we are training coaches to go to the grassroots and find our Moussa Djenepo, they can find a [Yves] Bissouma to compete with the likes of Mali."

The defeats against Mali ended Kenya's hopes of reaching Qatar despite having two matches remaining in the qualifiers against Uganda and Rwanda.