For more than five decades, Kenya has chased an elusive dream qualifying for the FIFA World Cup. While Harambee Stars have never graced football’s biggest stage, there have been moments when the dream felt tantalisingly close, none more so than during the road to the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France.

Kenya’s finest qualification campaign came under German coach Reinhard Fabisch. After eliminating Burkina Faso 4-3 on aggregate in the first round, Harambee Stars advanced to the decisive group stage alongside Tunisia, DR Congo, Togo and Liberia. At the time, only the group winner would qualify for the World Cup, making every point priceless.

Powered by stars such as Mike Okoth Origi, Musa Otieno and Dennis Oliech’s predecessors, Kenya remained in contention deep into the campaign.

A crucial 2-1 home victory over Tunisia in Nairobi ignited belief that the country could produce one of African football’s greatest upsets.

However, inconsistent away results proved costly. Tunisia eventually topped the group with 13 points, while Kenya finished third on nine just four points shy of a historic qualification. Tunisia would go on to represent Africa in France 1998.

That campaign remains Kenya’s closest brush with the World Cup, but it was not the only opportunity. In the 2006 qualifiers, Kenya reached the final group phase against Tunisia, Morocco, Guinea, Botswana and Malawi before finishing fourth.

The 2010 campaign also showed promise after progressing past the preliminary round, only to fall in a difficult group featuring Nigeria and Tunisia. In 2014, hopes faded after a costly home draw against Malawi, while the 2018 qualifiers ended with a narrow aggregate defeat to Cape Verde.

With the FIFA World Cup now expanded to 48 teams, Africa has more qualification slots than ever before. For a nation that has repeatedly knocked on the door, the upcoming qualification campaigns may finally present Kenya’s best opportunity to turn decades of near misses into history.