CAF demands to know status of KPL title

There has been a lot of discussion on how the 2019-2020 Kenya Premier League should be decided. FKF Chairman Nick Mwendwa has made it clear that if FIFA rules are to be followed, Gor Mahia should be declared the winners. However every other KPL club is dead set on awarding Gor Mahia the title and would rather see the league annulled. The annulment is being pushed primarily by clubs that have no chance of winning the league, notably Sofapaka and AFC Leopards where Elly Kalekwa have been leading the annulment chants. On the other hand Tusker and Homeboyz who still have a chance of winning the league, have been demanding a playoff. CAF are now demanding to know how each league will decide the winner

Additional reporting from the Nation

The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has given Football Kenya Federation (FKF) eight days to decide on whether the current Kenya Premier League and Domestic Cup (Betway Cup) competition will be played on or annulled.

In a letter dated April 26 and addressed to all general secretaries of the member associations, Caf’s acting General Secretary Abdelmounaim Bah said: “We would like to enquire about the current situation of your national league/National Cup (ranking, number of pending matches etc..) as well as the strategies you intend to apply to finalise those competitions be it through completion or annulment.”

“We would appreciate receiving a reply by the 5th of May 2020 in order to design a plan for the organisation of our inter club competitions during next season.”

The KPL, which was supposed to end on May 23, was suspended last month with less than 10 rounds of matches to go as a precautionary measure against the spread of the coronavirus.

“Caf is closely monitoring the situation with the stakeholders to know when our Interclub competition would resume which would help us determine to what extent we can be flexible with the teams engagement for next season. Once we determine the date we are able to resume footballing activities, we would advise you when the leagues must be completed and concessions that would be made with regards to names submission, player registration and date next season will commence.”

KPL CEO Jack Oguda has since reiterated the league will remain suspended indefinitely until either the pandemic is contained or government advices otherwise.

All the leagues in Africa, except in Burundi, have been suspended over the Covid-19 pandemic and there has since been no clear return date or roadmap, considering most countries are either in quarantine or lockdown.

Similarly, most football competitions across the globe have been suspended while other countries have already cancelled the season. The Argentine football season was cancelled on Tuesday while the Dutch leagues were cancelled last week.

No league in Africa has been cancelled owing to the pandemic