Big money in football stokes battle to control the pie

Kenya: Less than five years ago, talks of a player transfer attracting a signing fee within the Kenyan football scene was as alien as snow in Africa. Player sales seemed a preserve of big European and South American football giants and in the process, amassing huge amounts in transfer deals.

But thanks to cash inflow to the local football arena from monied firms such as East Africa Breweries Ltd (EABL) and SuperSport International, which has bought the top-tier league broadcast rights, analysts contend that the new deal brokered by the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) values the local top-tier league at Sh4 billion, way above the current SuperSport deal worth Sh1.3 billion.