Kenya’s Handball team fails to impress at Men’s African Cup of Nations
By Luke Oluoch, January 26, 2026The Kenyan National Handball Team’s journey in the 27th edition of the Men’s Senior African Cup of Nations came to a crushing end on Sunday, January 25, 2026, in Rwanda.
Kenya faced elimination at the President’s Cup stage at the hands of Congo following a hard-fought 37-26 loss to the Central African nation.
Kenya entered the 2026 edition in Rwanda and was placed in Group C alongside Cameroon, Tunisia, and Guinea.
Tough going on
The team led by coach Bryan Matthews, however, found proceedings tough against the group, ending winless after three matches in the preliminary stages.
The side suffered their first loss in a 36-24 defeat to Guinea before concluding a close run against Cameroon on the wrong end of a 28-24 scoreline, leaving them at the bottom of Group C after two games.
A 21-39 loss to Tunisia compounded matters for Kenya, who were relegated from the Main Cup contention after finishing bottom of the group.
The East African was forced to contend with a place on the second tier of the President’s Cup.
The challenging spell continued further as Congo edged Kenya to wrap up the bitter end to their campaign.
It proved a struggle for fellow East African neighbours, Uganda and host Rwanda, who both also fell into a similar fate with relegation to the President Cup category to compete on rankings and pride.
Team for duty
The team led by Peter Mwathi of Equity and Bryan Mathews of the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) had summoned a blend of experience and youth for the competition that also serves as the qualifications for the 30th International Handball Federation (IHF) Men’s World Championship.
For the first time, the team called up players plying international leagues, with the international-based players in the Kenyan ranks including the APR trio of Morgan Simiyu, Brian Wakhuka, and Julius Chiunda, and Radzi Stower of Rwanda Police.