Junior Starlets reach U-17 World Cup knockouts for the first time

Kenya’s U-17 women’s team thrashed Samoa 4-0 to reach the round of 16 at the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. This is only Kenya’s second appearance at the tournament. On their debut, in the Dominican Republic in 2024, they went out in the group stage. Japan are next for the Junior Starlets.

Kenya’s final Group E game was played in Morocco on 25 October, on Pitch 4 at the Mohammed VI Football Complex. They needed a win, and a big one. Mwanakombo Bakari had them in front by the 4th minute.

Brenda Awuor made it 2-0 in the 44th minute, and after the break the game was settled in the space of two minutes. Gaudensia Maloba struck first in the 62nd minute, before Bakari completed her brace in the 64th. Samoa had three shots all game to Kenya’s 17.

Bakari, unsurprisingly, was named player of the match.

The game was Samoa’s last at the tournament. In its match report, the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) said Kenya had smothered their opponents with a high press from the opening minutes. Samoa trailed 2-0 at half-time and the islanders never found an answer in the second half. They finished the group without a win.

Football Kenya Federation (FKF) had dubbed Group E the “group of death”, and the first two games bore that out. China and the United States are clearly a class above, and Kenya struggled against both. Mildred Cheche’s side lost 0-3 to China, then 1-6 to the United States. Lindey Wei scored their only goal in those two matches. Going into the third round, Kenya had no points and a goal difference of minus eight.

There was only one way through. Beat Samoa heavily and hope results in the other groups went their way. Kenya did their part, and the rest fell into place. The three points lifted the Junior Starlets into third, and their record was good enough to take them through as one of the best third-placed teams.

FKF called reaching the round of 16 historic, and this may well be a case where the big word is deserved. From the outside at least, the country’s women’s programme has spent years in the shadow of the men’s game, and that includes funding.

Sponsorship money in Kenyan football comes largely from gambling. Bookmaker and online casino logos have long been a fixture on Kenyan Premier League club shirts and on pitchside boards in Nairobi. Wild Tokyo, an online casino brand, works in the same advertising niche, and at https://wildtokyodk.bet/ all the latest online slots and roulette sit alongside card games. Budgets like these rarely trickle down to women’s youth teams, and one good tournament probably won’t change that overnight.

What the federation now has is a story sponsors can easily grasp, and one for parents deciding whether to let their daughter take up football. The team lost their first two games by a combined 1-9 and still made the knockouts. People remember that sort of thing. The youth side usually feeds players into the senior Harambee Starlets, so the World Cup experience will pay off further down the line.

The round of 16 tie against Japan is scheduled for 29 October, with kick-off at 9pm East Africa Time (EAT).

Japan won this tournament in 2014 and are almost always among the favourites at youth level. Kenya go in as underdogs, and clear ones at that. Against the United States, Cheche’s defence fell apart, and the six goals conceded tell their own story. On the other hand, the pressure is off now. Against Samoa a mistake would have meant elimination, whereas Kenya, it seems, have already gone beyond what was asked of them at this tournament.

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