Warring football bodies fail to agree, ball returns to court

What you need to know:

  • For umpteenth time FKF and KPL just cannot see eye-to-eye on football affairs.
  • Parties only settled on name of league, says Oguda.

The High Court of Kenya is on Thursday expected to offer a way out of the football crisis after a third consecutive meeting between Football Kenya Federation and Kenya Premier League failed to agree on the management of the top tier league in the country.

Lady Justice Roselyn Aburili on Tuesday directed the lawyers representing the two camps to try an out-of-court settlement but a meeting held at the Serena Hotel, late on Tuesday evening, failed to yield anything.

The judge ordered that the two parties report back on Thursday on the progress of the negotiations, but after failing to reach consensus, the court is expected to hear the three applications before it.

There is an application by two former football administrators Sammy Shollei and Dan Shikanda — both of whom were suspended from the federation under unclear circumstances — seeking to be enjoined in the case as interested parties.

There is also an application by FKF through their lawyer Eric Mutua, urging the court to give priority to their contempt of court application which they have filed against KPL as well as the original application by the league body seeking to lift an injunction filed by FKF.

NO CONSENSUS

KPL CEO Jack Oguda on Wednesday told Daily Nation Sport that apart from agreeing that top flight league be renamed FKF Premier League, they did not reach consensuses on any other matter.

“Yes, we agreed in the name of the league, that it be called the FKF Premier League. We have never had an issue with that. It was part of our MOU with the federation,” Oguda said.

“We however did not agree on anything else and we are now waiting for the court to decide. We did not take ourselves there but FKF did.”

FKF is rooting for an expanded 18-team league while the KPL wants a 16-team format.

Present during the three-hour meeting that began at 5pm and ended shortly after 8pm was KPL chairman Ambrose Rachier, his deputy Allan Kasavuli, Chief Executive Jack Oguda and Governing Council member George Odhiambo.

FKF was represented by its chairman Sam Nyamweya, Robert Asembo (vice-chairman), Doris Petra (NEC member) and Chief Executive Michael Esakwa.

At the centre of the feud is the desire to control huge sums pumped annually by sponsors to the top tier competition.

Broadcast rights holders SuperSport injects a whooping Sh150 million yearly with an additional Sh65 million coming from the official league sponsors East African Breweries Limited.

The feud has dragged on for three months now, putting players’ welfare at risk.

There is also the genuine fear that the gains made over the past decade may be eroded even as a Fifa ban looms.

Fourteen of the top most clubs in the country have remained with KPL while the FKF Premier League is made up of Nationwide league sides that were promoted en mass in an unprecedented move by the national federation.