- Sofapaka President Elly Kalekwa expressed his gratitude as Kenyan top league secures the most lucrative shirt-sleeve deal after FKF revealed Nigerian betting firm Betking as their new 1.2b five-year sponsor.
It is noteworthy that the Football Kenya Federation has made efforts in ensuring premier league clubs are not left stranded as most shirt sponsors exit due to unavoidable circumstances. In the deal, clubs will get a minimum of Sh8 million each season.
“So far so good. Before this deal, we had nothing and clubs were really suffering and so this is a big relief to us and we fully support the deal with Betking,” Kalekwa said.
Kalekwa revealed that a committee was formed last week and is going through the new contract and will advise the beneficiaries accordingly.
The Sofapaka boss further endorsed the proposal to have the name of the league changed from KPL to FKF PL
“It is really not a big deal to change the name of the league. What is important is clubs get money for their operations like paying players and honoring fixtures. Everything else is secondary,” he explained.
Kalekwa, who also chairs the KPL Marketing Committee, affirmed that league must be run independently from the association to enhance proper management regardless of the name.
“We have run the league for many years under the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) and it worked perfectly. Our request is that whatever name we will run the league under going forward, we be able to maintain the sense of independence and professionalism that existed. In this day and era, associations do not run the league and we are happy that FKF are keen to maintain the same even with the new arrangement.” He added
