Flashscore can exclusively reveal that the demand notice was sent to the newly elected FKF boss Hussein Mohammed on Wednesday, just two days after the Turkish coach had resigned from his role after Kenya failed to qualify for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Morocco.
According to the demand notice, Firat has warned to take FKF to the World governing body FIFA if the mentioned amount is not settled in full in the next 14 days.
A close source to the coach, who did not want to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter, confirmed the latest development.
“Firat’s demand letter was sent on Wednesday, and part of the demands in the letter include he wants to be paid his salary accrued to Ksh 75 million in full in the next 14 days,” the source told Flashscore.
“Failure to which, he has threatened to move to FIFA to sue FKF after the 14 days elapse.”
Flashscore reported on Tuesday that Firat had resigned citing comments made by Cabinet Secretary for Sports Kipchumba Murkomen, who said the Kenyan government was engaging in ways to terminate his contract after he failed to take Harambee Stars to the 35th edition of Confederation of African Football (CAF) tournament in the North African.
In his quotes, Murkomen said: “Since we were the ones who were funding the coach as a Ministry, we will upon the period being attained and the circumstances that have befallen the coach, as a result of failing to qualify, it is rather obvious that of course we will implement that section of the law and we will not remit any other funds beyond the period that was agreed.”
On his decision to quit, Firat told Flashscore: “I have terminated my contract after this CS (Murkomen) talked so much about me, but let Football Kenya Federation (FKF) make the announcement.”
FKF President Mohammed later issued a statement confirming the exit of Firat saying the former Moldova tactician had tendered his resignation with grounds of pending arrears.
“I want to confirm that Firat’s termination reached me yesterday (Tuesday) in the evening, I was not privy to it and definitely we will do an internal audit first on the claims of arrears (owed to him) and once the report comes out, we will deal with the matter but the grounds of termination is the pending arrears,” said Mohammed.
Kenya, who were chasing a seventh appearance at the Morocco tournament, failed to seal a ticket after finishing third in Group J which consisted of winners Cameroon, second-placed Zimbabwe and Namibia, who finished last.
Kenya started their campaign with a 0-0 draw against Zimbabwe, recovered to beat the Brave Warriors of Namibia 2-1 before two back-to-back defeats against the Indomitable Lions shattered their hopes. Cameroon won the first meeting before winning the second 1-0 in Uganda.
Kenya finished off their campaign with a 1-1 draw against the Warriors of Zimbabwe before concluding their group matches with a 0-0 draw against Namibia.
FKF have been reported to FIFA before for similar issues
The problem of Kenya not paying coaches is not new. In May 2016, FKF found themselves sweating over a Sh 245 million legal suit from two of its former coaches - Bobby Williamson and Adel Amrouche.
Williamson, who handled Harambee Stars for 16 months, was seeking compensation of Ksh 105million for unlawful dismissal while Belgian Amrouche was demanding Ksh 130 million as compensation, an amount equivalent to the remainder of his five-year contract which was to run until 2019 but he was fired in August 2014.
In 2020, Frenchman Sebastien Migne threatened to report FKF to FIFA over unpaid dues. Migne, who led Kenya to the 2019 AFCON in Egypt after a 15-year wait where they failed to go past the group stage, was fired following Harambee Stars' elimination from the 2020 African Nations Championship (CHAN).
Firat’s game in charge saw Kenya suffer a 5-0 defeat against Mali in a World Cup qualifier before he lost 1-0 to the same side. Kenya then drew 1-1 against Uganda and Firat got his first win - 2-1 - against Rwanda.
He then lost 2-1 against Iran in an international friendly, beat Pakistan 1-0, lost 1-0 against Mauritius, beat Qatar 2-1, and lost 1-0 against South Sudan before forcing Russia to a 2-2 draw in his 10th match in charge.
His 11th match took him to Gabon where Kenya suffered a 2-1 defeat but he recovered to hammer Seychelles 5-0. Kenya then thumped Malawi 4-0, before they beat Zimbabwe 3-1 to lift their first-ever trophy - the Four Nation tournament - under Firat.
