FKF-KPL wrangles costs Super Cup DSTV sponsorship
Endless wrangles between Kenya’s top football brass influenced the sudden withdrawal of the Kenya Super Cup sponsorship, Nairobi News can reveal.
DSTV had as recently as January 25 committed to bankrolling this annual one game tournament, which traditionally heralds Kenya’s top flight football season.
As a result, the competition was renamed the DSTV Super Cup. This isn’t the case anymore however, as Tusker will play now Gor Mahia in this match at the Afraha Stadium in Nakuru County on Sunday, in a contest that has since been renamed KPL Super Cup.
“There has been a lot of uncertainty about this match from the start. I think the sponsors planned and planned and re-planned as the organisers kept on postponing the game for political reasons. In the end the game didn’t fit in their program,” said Gor Mahia’s assistant secretary general Ronald Ngala.
POSTPONED
This game was originally to be played on January 29, but has been rescheduled on more than three occasions, as a result of infighting between Football Kenya Federation and the Kenyan Premier League officials, chiefly over the size and composition of the top flight competition, plus which teams will play in it.
This standoff is currently being arbitrated at the Sports Disputes Tribunal, whilst there is a separate case filed at the High Court by former FKF president Sam Nyamweya.
Meanwhile, KPL has undertaken to meet all costs of the match including transporting the two Nairobi based teams to Nakuru, accommodating them, plus handing the winning team with a trophy and medals, expenses KPL’s CEO Jack Oguda confirms will total Sh500,000.
The two teams are also set to share the gate collections.
