Kariobangi Sharks' Erick Kapaito was in full glimmer at the Gala Awards held on Tuesday, September 14, 2021, in Nairobi.
Kapaito was crowned the Most Valued Player of the FKF Premier League 2020/21 season and also got the Golden Boot Award after topping the league with 24 goals. It was the second time he was winning the award after his exploits in 2018. The 25 year old was also given a total cash prize of Ksh 1.5million for his exemplary performance in the league. Kapaito piped his closest challenger, Sofapaka midfielder Lawrence Juma who emerged the first runners up, while Tusker captain Eugene Asike emerged the second runners up. Juma and Asike were awarded Sh200,000 and Sh100,000 respectively.
Tusker coach Robert Matano won the Coach of the Year after guiding the brewers to their 12th league title. Tusker dominated the awards, scooping five out of the 12 categories which were in contention.
Other winners that were awarded in the Black tie event are: Best Assistant Referee (Mary Njoroge), Referee of the year (Peter Waweru Kamaku), Digital Team of the year (Tusker FC), Fair Play Award (Kariobangi Sharks), Team Manager of the year (George Opondo), Young Player of the year (Henry Meja), Midfielder of the year (Lawrence Juma), Defender of the year (Eugene Asike), Golden Glove winner (James Saruni), and Coach of the year (Robert Matano).
Category winners from the Coach of the year, Golden Glove, and MVP each received a 55’ TV courtesy of StarTimes, with the Golden Glove and Golden Boot category receiving two nights at the Maasai Mara courtesy of Bonfire Adventures. The MVP also got three nights at Mombasa.