Zoo FC's fate to be determined next week

It has now been 23 days since Kericho based Zoo FC were served with a letter from the disciplinary committee of the world football governing body, FIFA, that found the club culpable of match fixing allegations.

“The FIFA Disciplinary Committee finds the club Zoo FC responsible for activities related to manipulation of football matches and competitions. The club is hereby expulsed from the Kenyan Premier League Season 2020/2021 as of the date of notification of the present decision. The FIFA Disciplinary Committee hereby orders the relegation of the first team of the club Zoo FC to the FKF Division One for the next season,” read the FIFA part of the communiqué back on May 4th.

Within hours, Football Kenya Federation moved in swift to act on the letter, issuing a directive that confirmed Zoo’s expulsion from the top tier league with immediate effect.

However Zoo’s only lifeline was the 30-day window the club was given to table an appeal in their quest to plead for innocence.

“The FIFA disciplinary committee orders the club Zoo FC to contact FIFA in the next 30 days from the notification of the decision and implement a prevention plan as an educational directive designed to prevent and combat the manipulation of football matches and competitions,” the letter read.

With only seven days left before that window elapses, head coach Herman Iswekha has revealed that the club presented the appeals and are awaiting a positive verdict from FIFA in the course of the coming week as the club continues with to prepare for the outcome.

“Our chairperson Ken Ochieng already filed the appeals after the ruling and we are now just waiting for the verdict that is expected to be given in the course of next week,” the head coach told Mozzart Sport.

Iswekha however stated his wish to have the matter handled in a different way to prevent the over fifty individuals at the club from paying the consequences of a crime they may not have committed,

“If you look at Zoo FC, there are over fifty employees including the players. If this is something that happened in 2018 while I was here, why can’t the responsible individuals even be banned from footballing activities and not the whole team? With the ban, the youth in Kericho do not even have a place to showcase their talent. In the past circumstances, only responsible culprits were sidelined and not the whole team. For now we will wait to hear the verdict,” the head coach concluded.