Clubs raise fear of possible FKF League cancellation

Peniel Kokou (L) of Togo contests for an aerial ball with Joash Onyango of Harambee Stars during their Total Africa Cup of Nations Qualifiers 2021 match first leg match at Kasarani stadium in Nairobi on November 18, 2019. The match ended 1-1. [Photo/Stafford Ondego]

Suspension of sporting activities will have far-reaching effects on Harambee Stars’ 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign, football enthusiasts have warned.

This warning comes as a section of FKF Premier League clubs say that continued suspension of sports beyond April will mean that for the second consecutive season, the domestic league will not be played to its logical conclusion. Last year, Gor Mahia were declared winners following the ban on sports in March due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

President Uhuru Kenyatta, in his second Covid-19 public order in March this year, suspended all sporting activities, less than two months after the games had resumed early in the year.

Only 10 of the 20 clubs have played 16 rounds of league matches so far. And with about two months to the end of the season, there are growing fears that this season, just like the preceding one, will be called off.

“There will be no league if the ban is not lifted by the end of next week, says Sofapaka president Elly Kalekwa.

Kenya is set to kick off the World Cup qualifiers against Uganda early June. But some fear that Stars, who failed to qualify for the 2022 Africa Cup of Nation (Afcon), might not field a formidable squad if the ban on sports remains in place beyond next month.

Vihiga United chairman Indimuli Kahi also believes the suspension of sports will have a ripple effect on the national team’s performance.

“We saw what a competitive league can do to the national team going by the big number of locally based players who played in the last two Afcon qualifiers (against Togo and Egypt),” said Kahi.