NAIROBI March 29, 2025: Kenya has launched a match-fixing investigation after allegations surfaced that national team goalkeeper Patrick Matasi was involved in rigging an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.
The Football Kenya Federation (FKF) acknowledged the circulation of online videos suggesting possible match manipulation and confirmed an official probe in collaboration with FIFA, CAF, and other relevant authorities.
“FKF upholds the integrity of football and has launched an official investigation,” the federation said, reaffirming its zero-tolerance policy on match-fixing to protect the sport’s credibility.
A secretly recorded online video viewed by AFP shows an unidentified man discussing a match-fixing plan with Matasi in exchange for money.
Matasi, who has played for AFC Leopards, Tusker, and Ethiopia’s Coffee Sports Club, was in goal during Kenya’s 4-1 loss to Cameroon in a 2025 AFCON qualifier last October, a defeat that significantly hurt Kenya’s qualification chances and led to coach Engin Firat’s resignation.
New coach Benni McCarthy later dropped Matasi from the squad, and he did not play in Kenya’s recent 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Gambia and Gabon.
Match-fixing has plagued Kenyan football in recent years, with 14 players and two coaches suspended in January 2023 following a cheating tip-off in the national league.
In 2020, FIFA banned four Kenya-based players, including one for life, over an "international conspiracy" to fix matches, and later suspended five referees linked to the scandal.
A 2024 report by the Kenya Institute of Public Policy Research and Analysis warned that match-fixing has infiltrated all levels of Kenyan football, from grassroots to professional leagues, eroding fan trust and damaging the sport’s integrity.