The FKF conundrum

Football Kenya Federation (FKF) has boxed itself into a somewhat precarious situation by releasing a draft fixture for completion of the current troubled season.

The fixtures indicate that FKF Premier League will run from next week, 12th May 2021, until the end of August, consequently locking out local teams from participating in the CAF Club Competitions next season and definitely delaying the domestic calendar for 2021/2022.

Never mind that the Ministries of Health and that of Sports are yet to go public with a resumption of sports program as directed by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Even if FKF is privy to this plan and released the fixtures in accordance with it, several questions stick out like a sore thumb.

What do clubs play for?

The eighteen top-flight clubs play for the ultimate prize which is winning the domestic league and pride of representing the country in the CAF Champions League.

However, winners of the league as currently proposed by FKF will not play in the CAF Champions League next season because the continental body requires member associations, including FKF, to forward their representatives to Champions League by the close of June.

FKF Premier League will be eleven matchdays away from conclusion by then. Eleven match days is equivalent to a third of the season in a 34-match league.

The federation can, therefore, not declare winners while the season is in progress unless one club attains unassailable points by then.

But going by the cutthroat race up top between Tusker, AFC Leopards, KCB, Kariobangi Sharks and Bandari as at when the season was halted, any one of the five teams attaining such a lead of thirty-three points is unfathomable.

Kenya has a pedigree in continental club competitions owing to recent endeavours of Gor Mahia and a few moons back the country was on the verge of getting additional slots in the CAF Club Competitions but the quarterfinal elimination of K’Ogalo from Confederations Cup put paid to that aspiration.

Not participating in the CAF Club Competitions next season would set Kenya a few ranks back in the CAF coefficients leaving the struggle to increase the country’s quota more hopeless.

Player safety

The rigours of playing top-flight football demand complete fitness from players. Anything less breeds injuries to players thus clubs came up with pre-season conditioning before competitions start. As it is clubs have not started training because the Ministries of Health and Sports have not given green lights.

With six more days to FKF Premier League resumption dates, it brings into sharp focus the emphasis put on the competitiveness of the league should players just assemble and start off without the necessary conditioning.

Moreover, games will come thick and fast when the season restarts putting a huge strain on the overburdened and underpaid players.

Financial burden

That Covid-19 pandemic has messed up even the most stable of entities is an understatement. Kenyan clubs had been struggling to exist even in pre-Covid-19 times. An extended season in the current conditions will bear heavily on these clubs leading to some very undesirable outcomes.

It costs approximately Ksh.250,000 for a top-flight team to honour a fixture away from home and about Ksh.100,000 for a home game. The grants from broadcast and naming rights are way shy of meeting clubs’ needs and if survival has been difficult then it’s about to get even harsher.

Match fixers have been known to thrive in leagues where poverty is rife. This might just leave an avenue for the manipulators who already have a foothold to gain a stranglehold of Kenyan football.

Next season’s calendar

June will usher in a market for player transfers, with clubs shopping for next season. It would be disruptive to clubs and players if the season continues while the June market, which is the main market for players is open.

Moreover, if the season is scheduled to conclude in August, what happens to the next season? How long do clubs and players go on recess and when does the season start?

Force Majeure

The federation is empowered to take drastic steps if the league is forced to stop midway due to occurrences beyond control.

Article 2.6.1.1 of the Regulations governing Kenyan football states thus:

When the league is incomplete by force Majeure when the teams have not finalized 1st leg fixtures, the league shall be declared null and void. Previous league winners are thus mandated to participate in the Champions League. Gor Mahia would thus get the nod to play in the continent.

2.6.1.1.2 If the teams shall have played 75% of the matches when the league is stopped due to Force Majeure, the team on top of the table at the end of first leg fixtures is declared the winner.

2.6.1.3 If some but not all clubs shall have played 75% of matches, multiply points of each team by the number of games played then divide by the number of games which are supposed to be played. Compile the average tally of each team and declare the leading team as the winner.  

FKF leadership have a tough but very critical situation to handle regarding the current calendar, the next calendar and participation in CAF Club Competitions next season having already failed to propose a team to the Confederation Cup this season.