The Senior Men’s National Team Harambee Stars will play an international friendly match against Iran on March 28, 2023, in Tehran.
This is the first international engagement for Kenya in over a year after its suspension by the World football governing body FIFA.
Kenya was originally scheduled to play Burundi in Nairobi but a last-minute decision by Burundi to play Indonesia in Jakarta necessitated the change to Iran, whom Kenya had planned to play later on in the year.
Iran, a World Cup nation, is ranked 24th in the FIFA Men’s World Ranking.
National team Head Coach Engin Firat said Iran will provide a good test for Kenya.
“Iran is a world-class team, ranked #1 in Asia. Playing a tough opponent is a chance to push our players to the maximum, to make them familiar with high-level football, and show the difference between where we are and where want to be,”
Firat said playing against higher-ranked teams will make Kenya better when it matters.
“Playing against world-class teams frequently will help us to be ready at the important moment when we play world cup qualifiers. We can play weaker teams and get easy victories but this will not help us at the important moment.”
The players will report to camp on March 17, 2023. The team will travel to Tehran on March 26, 2023.