Applause doesn't pay the bills

Recognition is not the same as investment

The global women's game has shifted dramatically in the last five years. The Women's World Cup pulls television audiences that rival men's continental tournaments. Club football in England, Spain and the United States is attracting serious commercial money. The argument that women's football cannot generate interest has been comprehensively lost, almost everywhere.

In Kenya, that shift has been slower to translate into action. The FKF Women's Premier League is widely reported to run on budgets that most men's lower-division clubs would find modest. Travel, accommodation and basic match preparation are widely cited as persistent problems for clubs outside Nairobi. Players at the top of the domestic game are commonly described as holding down jobs or other commitments because the football alone cannot support them. None of these claims originate from the Capital FM piece; they reflect a broader editorial consensus this article shares, not independently verified reporting.

What the Harambee Starlets actually need

The national team picture is not entirely bleak. The Harambee Starlets have shown in CECAFA competition and WAFCON qualifying that the talent pool is real, though the depth of those performances is a matter of ongoing debate rather than settled record. Coaching structures are generally considered to have improved at senior level. But talent developed in a poorly resourced domestic league hits a ceiling, and that ceiling becomes visible every time Kenya faces a side whose players train full-time and travel without fundraising first.

What the programme needs is not a viral moment or a ministerial photo opportunity. It needs a funded domestic league that can retain players who might otherwise leave for better conditions abroad, a proper scouting and development pipeline below senior level, and consistent FKF investment that does not depend on how far the team goes in any given tournament.

The concrete ask

Capital FM's commentary is right that Kenyan women in sport deserve more than applause. For football specifically, the ask is concrete: treat the women's game as infrastructure, not as a feel-good story to be dusted off when results are good. The Harambee Starlets have earned that much.