Benni McCarthy hints at possible departure from Kenya

Kenya national team head coach Benni McCarthy has suggested he could leave his role as Harambee Stars coach, saying international football limits his ability to work with players on a daily basis.

Although he has enjoyed his time with the Kenya national football team, the South African legend feels underutilised because he only gets short training periods with the squad.

Too young for the Harambee Stars job?

Benni McCarthy says the “experience in Kenya has been unbelievable” but he’s too young to go so long without being active and it’s holding him back.

Adds after “this experience with Kenya, I’m really looking to get back into managing a… pic.twitter.com/anEkQ1eUtj

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Speaking to Robert Marawa, he described the Kenya experience as remarkable but said limited camp time makes it difficult to fully implement his ideas. He added club football suits him more at this stage of his career.

‘I am young to go long without being active’

“As I said, this experience in Kenya has been unbelievable. It’s been remarkable, it has been nice, but I think I’m still too young to go so long without being active. I’m on the training pitch. Smell the grass. I want to improve players,” said McCarthy.

“I want to give, and I feel that it is holding me back from doing that because you don’t have enough time with players, like I’ve not seen them in three months.

“When I see them, I’m only going to have a week to do what I can with them, and I know I think when I get to Hugo Broos’ age, then I want to go back into the national team, but after this experience with Kenya, I’m really looking to get back into managing a club.”

McCarthy was appointed head coach of the Kenya national football team (Harambee Stars) in March 2025, signing a two-year contract to lead them through the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations.

He is set to lead Kenya during the 2027 AFCON which will be co-hosted in East Africa.