Ex-Stars goalkeeper Matasi resumes football after court ruling

Kakamega Homeboyz goalkeeper Patrick Matasi has returned to training after the High Court in Kakamega dismissed his suspension pending investigations over a match fixing incident.

Matasi, currently the number one at Kenya Premier League club Kakamega Homeboyz was suspended last month by the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) after he was implicated in a match fixing scandal.

A video where a person resembling the keeper was recorded negotiating with persons believed to be in the match fixing business, was leaked on social media.

Matasi, who has also featured for the national team Harambee Stars, AFC Leopards, and others before, has insisted that he is innocent.

The High Court, sitting in Kakamega on Tuesday, granted him an opportunity to defend himself by issuing a conservatory order barring FKF from suspending him.

“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 from all FKF-sanctioned events and competitions pending hearing and determination of the petition," Judge S.N Mbungi said in his ruling.

"The petitioner to file and serve the main petition to the respondent, who shall respond to the petition within 30 days from today."

While suspending Matasi, FKF had stated that it had no allowance for match-fixing in its leagues.

"FKF upholds the integrity of football and has launched an official investigation in collaboration with Fifa, CAF, and other relevant authorities. We reaffirm our zero-tolerance policy on match manipulation and are committed to safeguarding the credibility of our competitions," FKF said in a statement released earlier Thursday.

Matasi joined FKF Premier League side Kakamega Homeboyz from Kenya Police in February after a disappointing period with Police FC where he was blamed by fans a few times for loose keeping.

Homeboyz Chairman Cleophas Shimanyula has responded to the match-fixing claims, saying the goalkeeper remains innocent until proven guilty.

"As a club, we can only take action if we get proper proof that he has been fixing matches. The video circulating only shows Matasi talking, we don’t know whether it is the real Matasi, if it is edited or not," he had said.

"We have seen videos being edited before to paint some prominent personalities in a wrong way."