FKF president Nick Mwendwa has revealed that Kenya’s top tier league risks losing one of the sponsors due to the current Covid restrictions put in force by the government.
Two weeks ago, President Uhuru Kenyatta suspended all sports activities, a move that has put the 2020/21 Football Kenya Premier League (FKF PL) season in jeopardy.
Mwendwa who was speaking to the Betking Premier League YouTube program, The Juice Box, also disclosed that one club participating in the league had received a notification from their shirt sponsor that they were not going to pay their April dues because of the current status in the country.
Mwendwa who was speaking during the league’s show, The Juice Box, however said that the Federation is in communication with the Ministry of Sports and that they had a meeting with the CS who informed them to write to the ministry requesting permission to return.
It is not yet clear which of the league sponsors it is but the suspension of the league is sure to hurt all the sponsors equally with the matches not being televised. FKF currently has Betking, Startimes and Milele FM as league sponsors.
“We are lucky CS Amina visited us before the Togo match and asked us to write a letter requesting for return of football. We have made strides in that sector by ensuring that matches are played in stadia without fans, we sanitize all the necessary apparatus and the only thing remaining is asking the ministry to help us vaccinate our players and the technical staffs across all the teams participating in the league,’ he said.
“Already one of the sponsors told us this morning that they will not disburse money into our accounts because they are not sure when we will resume normal operations.”
“One club has also been issued with a notice from their shirt sponsors that they will not be paid their April dues. This puts everyone in a very tight situation,” he told Juice Box.
The Football Kenya Premier League (FKF PL) last year secured a Ksh 1.2b deal from Betking for a period of 5 years. The league has 2 more sub sponsors; Startimes who are the main TV broadcasting sponsors and Milele FM the main Radio broadcast sponsors.