Gor Mahia must improve for CAFCL success, says forward Ochieng

Gor Mahia forward Chris Ochieng says they need to enhance their preparations and performance if the club is to advance past the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Champions League preliminary round.

Historically, the record league champions have often been eliminated at the penultimate stage of the CAF Champions League interclub competition.

However, Ochieng notes that this trend of failing to advance beyond the preliminary rounds must change by improving their performance heading into the new season.

"For a long time, the club hasn't performed well on the biggest football stage in the continent, which I believe has been due to underperformance. For the club to be among the best-performing teams, we need to improve our performance ahead of the coming competition," he stated.

Gor Mahia will return to the prestigious interclub competition after missing out on the 2023–24 CAFCL edition due to not meeting club licensing requirements.

That season, the club owed the trio of Congolese forward Sando Sando Yangay, Malian goalkeeper Adama Keita, and Burundian attacker Jules Ulimwengu millions in salary arrears and fines from contract terminations totaling Ksh7.67 million.

These issues led the Football Kenya Federation's first instance body to revoke Gor Mahia's license. The communiqué read, "We regret to inform you that the FKF Club Licensing First Instance Body (FIB), on the advice of CAF, has revoked Gor Mahia's Club Licensing Certificate for being in breach of Article 60 of the CAF Men's Club Licensing Regulation. The painful decision has been reached by the FIB after former Gor Mahia players reached out to CAF due to breach of payment agreements and overdue payables," stated a letter signed by FKF CEO Barry Otieno.

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Despite not participating in last season's edition, the former Tusker FC attacker believes that proper preparations will be crucial for the club's success in interclub tournaments. "I believe proper planning off the pitch is important for doing better than we have done before. Therefore, I urge timely preparations if we are to succeed beyond the preliminary rounds," he continued.

In a week's time, the team under new Brazilian coach Leonardo Martins Neiva will face South Sudan's EL Merriekh SC Bentiu in the first leg of the preliminary round in Juba, slated for Sunday, August 18.

If they advance past the two-legged preliminary stage, K'Ogalo will face champions Al Ahly in the next phase.

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