FKF secures Sh75 million kit deal

Football Kenya Federation has signed a Sh75 million partnership with Singapore-based sports apparel company Mafro Sports to kit all the national teams for the next three years.

Out of this amount, FKF will pocket Sh15million (Sh5million a year), while the rest will go into the actual production and shipping of the kits.

This is the first time that FKF is entering into a partnership with a kit maker since April 2015, when a two-year kitting deal for the Under-17, 20, 23 and the senior team was finalised with Joma under then president Sam Nyamweya.

In the recent past, Kenyan national teams have won the Kelme, Joma and Uhlsport brands.

Mafro are also the official kit partners for the Zambian and Zimbabwean national teams.

Under the contractual agreement signed on Monday at a Nairobi hotel, Mafro is expected to provide 600 pieces of every category of the uniforms for both senior and junior national football teams.

And unlike the Joma kit that had the home kit being predominantly white, FKF confirmed that Harambee Stars will wear the red kit in their home matches, white kit in away games as green remains the neutral kit. Goalkeepers’ attires are blue and yellow.

The infield players’ kits incorporate an impressive detail of very small, black stars on the shirt’s top parts that cover the arms and the chest, with one big star prominently standing in the middle.

Speaking at the launch, FKF president Nick Mwendwa said that ever since his office came into power in February last year, the federation had spent Sh8 million in the purchase of training and playing kits for the various national football teams.

He admitted that the task of getting a suitable kit sponsor had been daunting one.

“People (sportswear manufacturers) have been making promises to us without a proposal and when you ask them to put a commitment in writing, they run away.

“We chose this particular manufacturer because there is a monetary value involved. That means that we shall save the money we would have used to kit the national teams and put that money into football development,” he said.

Harambee Stars are expected to don the new kit early next month when they engage Angola in an international friendly match.

Replicas of this kit will retail at Sh2,500 at major supermarkets, malls and sports apparel shops beginning June 1 this year.