OPINION: Harambee Starlets Needs a Full Time National Team Coach

There’s no denying Beldine Odemba has done big things for football in Kenya. She has just guided Kenya Police Bullets to two consecutive league titles, won last year’s Kenya Secondary School Ball Games with Highway Secondary, and is also the top gaffer at Harambee Starlets.

But now, we need to talk about something serious.

You cannot coach a high school team, a club and the national team at the same time. Not in 2025. Not with how far the women’s game has come. Not with the pressure that comes with managing a country’s pride. And the cracks are already showing.

In the last ten games, the CAF A-licensed coach has only secured two wins, leading to football fans around the country calling for her resignation. Fun fact: She does resign or get sacked sometimes, as per our Kenyan Fabrizio Romano's reports, but then resurfaces still as the coach, calming down the excitement and cooling the fake exit rumors.

Club football needs daily training, weekly fixtures and constant squad management. Same applies to a high school squad. National team coaching needs scouting, planning, building chemistry and traveling for international duty.

You can't do all of the above properly, not in a competitive environment like this. Other countries in Africa have moved on. They hire full-time national team coaches. Kenya needs to do the same if we’re serious about achieving anything anytime soon. Odemba is good. But she needs to pick one.

This is not an attack on Odemba. She’s done more than most for Kenyan women’s football. But we must separate admiration from analysis. That’s what most of her fanbase doesn’t understand. Results definitely always speak louder than potential and past achievements—and right now, we are not yet there at Starlets. Do we even have a consistent style of football that we play?

At Ulinzi Complex against Tunisia in the WAFCON qualifiers, the coach shot herself in the foot, starting a midfielder as a striker while having the most lethal goal poacher in East and Central Africa sitting on the bench. Don’t talk about the second leg—yes, she missed a goal-scoring chance, but did you see the difference she brought upfront?

A national team coach should be someone who spends their days roaming the country and scouting for talent. Going into the lower leagues and giving us worthy players. We have Molly Awour at Kayole, Valerie Nekesa at Madira, Jerrine Adhiambo at Mathare—and also remember Faith Mboya and Medina Abubakar started this season in the NSL. Will this kind of talent be tapped into the national team when the coach is busy dealing with her team?

Another topic for discussion is the player call up. When a coach is associated with a particular club, the fans will always try and say that the coach is biased. For instance, why is Elizabeth Ochaka already integrated into the senior team while Lorrine Illavonga has never even been called in a provisional squad? Didn’t the latter perform better at the U17 World Cup? Food for thought.

At the weekend, when there were allegations that she had resigned, there were reports that Kibera Soccer Women SC’s David Vijago was set to take over after her. It is good news, considering the run he has had this season—but were we about to have another club and national team coach again, or was he set to resign at Kibera?

Football Kenya Federation really needs to have a serious discussion about a one-team coach. Give us a coach that, when fans call them out, no particular fanbase feels targeted. Remember Firat? The whole Football KE fans said “Firat Must Go” and no one felt aggrieved. Let results talk, not propaganda and mtu wangu syndrome.

Anyways, CECAFA is here, and I wish Odemba and the girls the best.

Go Starlets! Go Kenya!