The 37-year-old was provisionally suspended from all FKF-sanctioned events and competitions for 90 days on March 27th, following concerns raised by circulating videos suggesting possible match manipulation.
However, the former Kenya Police FC custodian successfully managed to obtain a court order overturning FKF’s decision and allowing him to resume football activities. The Court order was issued by a Kakamega High Court on Tuesday, March 8th.
In a ruling delivered by Judge S.N Mbungi of Kakamega High Court in Western Province, Matasi was named the Petitioner while FKF are the Respondent. The ruling halted the decision to ban Matasi, gave FKF 30 days to respond to the petition and set June 4th as the hearing date.
Part of the court order which was exclusively obtained by Flashscore, read in part: “The respondent has not responded to the Application nor attended court. I deem the application to be unopposed.
“I do issue a conservatory order restraining the Respondent whether by themselves or any person acting on the express orders of the Respondent from acting on the Respondent's communication dated 27.3.25 that suspended the applicant Matasi from all FKF-sanctioned events and competitions pending hearing and determination of the petition.”
Homeboyz delighted to have Matasi back for action
On Wednesday, April 9th, Homeboyz chairman and club owner Cleophas Shimanyula confirmed receipt of the court order and said they have reached a decision to welcome Matasi to the fold and will be available for the team’s next assignment.
“I received the court order today (Wednesday) and I did the effort to enquire with the court whether it was genuine, and the court has responded that it is a genuine court order, and as a club, who respects the rule of law in the country, we don’t have any option than to accept Matasi back in our squad,” Shimanyula told Flashscore.
“Matasi decided to fight his own war (against FKF decision to suspended him), Homeboyz was not involved, and he is free now to play, we can’t go against the court order, we have to respect it, and it is upon the coach to see whether he is fit enough to be involved starting now.”
Shimanyula continued: “Immediately FKF had suspended him, we moved to stop his salary from going through, but now that he has a court order reinstating him, we have re-opened his salary, and he will start getting monthly payments as the rest of the squad members.”
Homeboyz will return to action with a Round of 16 fixture of the domestic Cup when they host fellow Premier League outfit Shabana FC at Kenyatta Stadium in Kisumu on Saturday, April 12th.
However, speaking on the whole match-fixing saga surrounding Matasi, who played for Tusker FC in the Kenyan Premier League, Shimanyula took issues with FKF for the decision they had taken saying it was hell-bent to punish the players’ career whereas they had not gathered enough evidence before taking the action they took.
“I knew it from the first day when I watched the viral match-fixing video, I knew FKF were not sure about what they were trying to do, I knew FKF didn’t have enough evidence and that is why the court has made the decision to overturn their sanctions and further ordered those with evidence of Matasi fixing matches to produce them in the same court,” offered Shimanyula.
“FKF just wanted to punish Matasi for nothing, I don’t want to look like I am defending the player for his ills if any, but what evidence did they use to take the decision (ban him from activities)? What we saw was a video circulating which up until now Matasi says he is not the one being interviewed, and doesn’t have any knowledge about it.”
After suspending Matasi, FKF further confirmed they had reached out to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) for a joint effort to investigate the player.
“Was it necessary to involve the DCI whereas FKF had not gathered enough evidence over the allegations? So what exactly is DCI supposed to investigate? I feel the new FKF CEO Harold (Ndege), is not an informed person, he only rushed to write letters left, right and centre, and didn’t follow football rules, I guess I won’t be taken wrong if I say he may end up being the worst CEO in FKF history,” explained Shimanyula.
Matasi was dragged into serious allegations of match-fixing following a secretly recorded video that leaked, allegedly showing him negotiating a deal to manipulate the outcome of a match.
The footage, which was secretly recorded from the left back of a seat by another person - though the exact date it was taken still remained unclear - captured Matasi, actively engaged in a conversation on how to manipulate the match in question.
He made his debut for Kenya in 2017 and had played 35 matches before he was dropped by the then Harambee Stars coach Engin Firat after Kenya’s 4-1 defeat against Cameroon in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifying fixture.
