Benni McCarthy arrived in Kenya carrying an impressive football pedigree: Bafana Bafana’s all-time leading goalscorer, a UEFA Champions League winner with Porto in 2004 and a former Manchester United first-team strikers’ coach, but his tenure with the Harambee Stars has been overshadowed by a difficult start to the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign.
Kenya are already guaranteed a place at the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations as co-hosts alongside South Africa’s neighbours Tanzania and Uganda, but that has done little to ease the pressure around McCarthy’s team.
The Harambee Stars are still without a win in their qualifying campaign after opening with a 1-1 draw against Eritrea in Nairobi before suffering a 1-0 defeat away to Guinea.
One point from two matches is hardly the start McCarthy would have wanted when he took charge in March 2025.
But the problems confronting the former Bafana Bafana striker extend well beyond the pitch.
Players have reportedly boycotted training over unpaid allowances, while McCarthy has previously revealed the extent of the financial frustration inside the national team camp.
In a media presser last month, the 41-year-old coach revealed some players had attended as many as four or five national-team camps without receiving money they had been promised.
“For four to five camps, not receiving any cent of what was promised, of course, as a human being you will be like, is it worth it? Is it okay for the national team?” McCarthy asked.
McCarthy also disclosed that he and members of his technical team had gone months without receiving their salaries for over a year.
The financial turmoil has threatened to undermine the foundations of his rebuilding project, forcing Kenya’s football authorities and government to deal with problems that should have been resolved before the team took to the field.
In a statement issued on Thursday, September 24, the Ministry of Youth Affairs, Creative Economy and Sports announced that outstanding financial obligations linked to previous Harambee Stars assignments had been cleared, including payments relating to camps in Zambia, South Africa and Turkey, as well as salaries owed to members of the senior technical bench.
Yet money is not the only problem.
McCarthy has also raised concerns over unresolved work-permit issues, making it difficult for him to remain in Kenya between international windows and adding another complication to a job already demanding significant rebuilding.
Now comes the biggest test of his tenure.
The Harambee Stars are scheduled to face South Africa twice in November in the AFCON 2027 qualifying campaign, with the first encounter set for 13 November before the return fixture in Kenya on 17 November.
For McCarthy, the fixtures carry an obvious personal dimension. The former Bafana star is returning to face the country where he became a national football icon.
But the nostalgia will count for little once the whistle blows.
McCarthy will have to find a way to make a financially troubled Kenya side competitive against Bafana, while managing a squad that has already endured disputes over unpaid allowances and preparations disrupted by administrative problems.
The November fixtures will also put him up against Pitso Mosimane, who has returned as Bafana Bafana coach.
