The former Manchester United assistant coach has already agreed to work with former Bafana Bafana custodian Joseph Moeneeb (as goalkeeper trainer), and Vasili Manousakis (as assistant coach), but Football Kenya Federation (FKF) will further beef up the technical bench with local assistants, to help the new technical bench settle quickly and yield success.
Flashscore can now report that the 47-year-old Muyoti, who was recently with FKF Premier League side City Stars before he resigned and has coached a host of clubs including AFC Leopards, where he served as an assistant coach, is one of the coaches, who have been approved to join McCarthy’s bench.
Flashscore can further confirm that the former Bafana Bafana striker, who managed 79 appearances for the South Africa national team and scored 31 goals, will sign a two-year renewable contract with the unveiling ceremony scheduled for Friday, February 27th.
McCarthy expected on Thursday for Harambee Stars role
Following the exit of Turkish coach Engin Firat after he failed to qualify Harambee Stars to the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Morocco, FKF have been in the market for his replacement despite naming Francis Kimanzi on an interim basis.
Kimanzi, who is being assisted by Zedekiah ‘Zico’ Otieno and John Kamau, was handed the role to prepare the team for the invitational Mapinduzi Cup tournament that was held in Zanzibar in January.
In a recent post on his social media pages FKF President Hussein Mohammed hinted at changes in the technical bench by stressing the importance of strengthening the area and ensuring that they have the necessary tools to do their job.
“I held fruitful discussions with Sports Cabinet Secretary Salim Mvurya and Permanent Secretary Peter Tum regarding the progress of renovations on our sports facilities in readiness for the 2024 Africa Nations Championships (CHAN), preparations for our national teams’ upcoming assignments and governance reforms within the federation,” wrote Mohammed.
“We also discussed ways of strengthening the Harambee Stars technical bench and ensuring they have the necessary tools needed to guide the team successfully.”
A source has confirmed to Flashscore that FKF have managed to secure a work permit for McCarthy and his new staff, and he will be in charge when Kenya face the Gambia in their 2026 World Cup qualifying away fixture on March 17th, and against Gabon six days later at Nyayo Stadium in Nairobi.
“It is a done deal, Benni (McCarthy) will be the new coach for Kenya, he will officially arrive in Nairobi on Thursday, and the unveiling ceremony will be held on Friday at a venue to be disclosed in due course,” the source, who did not want to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter, divulged to Flashscore.
“The main reason why his appointment has dragged is because we had issues securing a work permit for him and the rest of the bench, but now we have sorted everything, we have managed to get work permits for the coach and his assistants, we have also managed to finalise on the duration of the contract.”
The source continued: “While he will come with his technical staff, we will add one or two local coaches to his technical staff, and so far, I can confirm that Nicholas (Muyoti) will join the technical team. He is one of those, who were targeted for the role, and he will come in as one of the assistants to support the new technical bench.”
Asked what will happen to the current interim coach Kimanzi, the source only said: “Kimanzi could be shifted to the role of the Technical Director, but let us not pre-empty everything before the big day, things will be made clear when we unveil McCarthy and his technical team.”
Muyoti, who started out his playing career at lower-tier side Kenyatta Hospital FC while still a student at Upper Hill School, is a former Kenyan captain best remembered for lifting the Castle Lager Cup trophy in 2002.
He played for AFC Leopards and Thika United in the Kenyan Premier League before moving to Singapore, where he signed for Sporting Afrique in 2006 and was named the captain. He later quit Sporting Afrique and moved to Churchill Brothers and then to Sporting Clube de Goa for the 2007 season.
However, he was forced to leave the Flaming Oranje in 2008 due to an injury that had ruled him out for eight months. Muyoti returned to Thika United for a season in 2008 then made moves in each of the next seasons to Sher Karuturi, Sofapaka FC. before finally returning ‘home’ to AFC Leopards in 2011 where he decided to hang his boots as a player at the close of that season.
While at AFC Leopards, Muyoti was called up to Harambee Stars squad in 2001 and played for the national team till the year 2003. He was handed his first cap at the Amahoro Stadium by the late coach Reinhard Fabisch in a game against Ethiopia in the final of 2001 CECAFA Cup.
Meanwhile, for McCarthy, he was most recently a first-team coach at Man United and previously worked as head coach of South African Premier Division team AmaZulu. A former forward, he is the South African national team's all-time top scorer and the only South African to have won the UEFA Champions League, doing so with Porto in 2003-04.
McCarthy, who has managed Hibernian, Sint-Truiden, and Cape Town City, began playing at a local side called Young Pirates, which was managed by his uncles. He then joined the youth structures of a local amateur club called Crusaders. At age 17, he was signed by first division club Seven Stars.
