Nairobi News

Football Kenya Federation and the Kenyan Premier League are at loggerheads again. The bone of contention this time round is the league’s sponsorship deal with local betting firm SportPesa.

In a letter signed by Chairman Sam Nyamweya and addressed to KPL Chairman Ambrose Rachie, FKF says it has nullified the sponsorship deal, estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of shillings that was unveil on Thursday, on the premise that the federation wasn’t consulted.

Nyamweya’s letter, copied to Fifa officials Kwesi Nyantakyi, Primo Carvaro and Ashfold Mamelodi, reads:

“May I point from the outset that the contract is invalid to the extent that FKF was neither involved nor informed of the negotiations or conclusion of the contract, contrary to FKF and Fifa Statutes.

“It is noteworthy that, during the meetings with the Fifa delegation, it was put categorically to you that contracts entered into without the knowledge and consent of the Federation shall be null an void because such shall be in contradiction with Articles 78 & 79 of the FKF and Fifa Statutes.

LEAGUE RIGHTS

“While we have no problem with a new title sponsor for the league, we would not encourage the anarchy of selling league rights without informing the Federation which exclusively owns all football rights in Kenya.”

The federation’s move has elicited immediate reaction from KPL CEO Jack Oguda who said it doesn’t make sense to engage the federation in any subject as long as the national body wont recognize the league’s governing body.

“We stopped remitting monies and engaging them because they have refused to recognize us. The federation has also failed to withdraw a court case despite being advised otherwise by Fifa,” Oguda said.

KPL and FKF have been squabbling, mostly over financial related matters, for the better part of this season.

Earlier in the year, it took the intervention of Fifa and a court ruling to resolve an impasse between the two bodies that delayed the start of the 2015 season of the Kenyan Premier League.