Court stops release of KPL fixtures pending hearing

What you need to know:

  • Three football fans have moved to court to challenge the exclusion of Sofapaka and Muhoroni Youth from the 2017 SportPesa Premier League.
  • Consequently, the trio of Emmanuel Ochieng, Sperus Gor Oketch and Abdalla Sadat Khamis, who have been listed as the first, second and third petitioners, on Tuesday obtained an order stopping the release of any fixtures of the country’s top flight football competition which exclude the two clubs.
  • The matter is now set for hearing at the High Court in Kisumu on February 23, two days before the official start of the nine month long competition.

Three football fans have moved to court to challenge the exclusion of Sofapaka and Muhoroni Youth from the 2017 SportPesa Premier League.

Consequently, the trio of Emmanuel Ochieng, Sperus Gor Oketch and Abdalla Sadat Khamis, who have been listed as the first, second and third petitioners, on Tuesday obtained an order stopping the release of any fixtures of the country’s top flight football competition which exclude the two clubs.

The matter is now set for hearing at the High Court in Kisumu on February 23, two days before the official start of the nine month long competition.

The Kenyan Premier League Limited which manages the competition, Football Kenya Federation and the Sports Disputes Tribunal are named as the first, second and third respondents respectively.

“I am pained to learn that my team has been removed from the league in suspicious circumstances and replaced by mid-table sides in the National Super League. That is not fair play,” said Khamis, an employee at Eastleigh Sacco, who doubles up as an ardent Sofapaka fan.

Sofapaka and Muhoroni were expelled from the league by Football Kenya Federation last month, for failing to meet Caf club licensing requirements.

FKF replaced the two teams with KCB and Vihiga United which finished fifth and sixth in the second tier National Super League. This development triggered a standoff between FKF and KPL that is currently being arbitrated by Sports and Disputes Tribunal.

“We have been served with the order and will abide by it because we respect the rule of law,” Football Kenya Federation’s Communications director Barry Otieno said.

This latest development brings a new twist to the long running row, as world football governing body Fifa prohibits football disputes from being settled in courts of law.