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The Nairobian

FKF TO ACT ON ALIENS: Federation to reduce number of foreigners in leagues, seek Immigration office help

Football

By Gilbert Wandera | Jul 29, 2015

KPL CHEMELIL VS TUSKER GOR VS MATHARE NYAYO NATIONAL STADIUM Tusker Noah Wafula(R) and Jonathan Mwaniki of Chemelil battle for ball possession during their KPL match at Nyayo National Stadium on Sunday 12/07/15.PHOTO.BONIFACE OKENDO

Football Kenya Federation (FKF) will from next season reduce the number of foreign players that clubs are allowed to sign from the current five to three.

Furthermore, to ensure that only the best are allowed into the country, the federation will set up standards to be met by those wishing to play in Kenya.

“We are concerned by the huge number of foreign players in the country and while we have allowed clubs to sign five, we are now going to scale it down to three.

Furthermore, those three have to provide the federation with their resume before being allowed to play to ensure that only the best players come here,” said FKF chairman Sam Nyamweya.

He also urged the immigration department to clamp down on the number of foreign players coming into the country saying this is not the mandate of the federation.

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“We are aware that many foreigners are taking part in the other lower leagues and the fact is we have not given them permission.

We are wondering how they got work permits without us being asked.

We are requesting the immigration department to play its part in ensuring that only those who have permission to be here are allowed to sign for our clubs,” he added.

The debate on foreign players was ignited by Tusker coach Francis Kimanzi, who called for a reduction in their number from the current five allowed to be signed by a KPL club to three.

Yesterday, the Tusker tactician said his comments were not meant to single out any particular club but rather to point out a problem that if not tackled now will lead to problems in future as it is already affecting the national team Harambee Stars.

“The fact is Tusker has five foreign players and so my comments should not be personalised as attacking anyone in particular. I am just looking at the whole problem to see how best we can deal with it for the sake of our national team,” he said.

Kimanzi had complained that the influx of foreign players is also being experienced in the lower league teams.

Joining in the debate, KPL Chief Executive Jack Oguda said they are considering some rules to deal with the problem and this will be implemented next season. “We are in discussions on the matter and are trying to see how best to address this issue.

We are considering things like imposing an age limit on the foreign players allowed in our league.

We also want to comprehensively deal with the issue of refugees which continues to bother us,” he explained.