FKF set to finally reveal clubs eligible for 2017 KPL

Football Kenya Federation will on Monday afternoon hold a press conference to reveal the names of the teams which have met the licensing threshold and as therefore, eligible to participate in the 2017 Kenyan Premier League (KPL) as required by both FIFA and CAF.

In a statement, the federation said the 2pm local time at the FKF Goal Project headquarters in the outskirts of Nairobi briefing (+3GMT) will be addressed by President Nick Mwendwa where the fate of the clubs who have not met the requirements will also be unveiled.

The deadline to conform to the new requirements was extended late last year with only seven teams including KPL giants Tusker FC who are champions, Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards among those who had fulfilled the criteria.

On December 22, National Super League (NSL) side Oserian FC became the first club to be expelled from league football when FKF chopped them off the second-tier league for making ‘no efforts’ to comply.

FKF President Mwendwa stuck to his pledge to relegate non-compliant clubs to the lower leagues with seven KPL staring at the same fate if they did not meet the extended cut-off date of December 23.

The seven – Posta Rangers, Western Stima, Mathare United, Muhoroni Youth, Sony Sugar, Sofapaka FC and Thika United – failed to beat the initial deadline but were handed a four-days to re-submit their documents for scrutiny to the FKF Club Licensing Committee chaired by Prof Edwin Wamukoya.

“The committee met and scoring was done. The seven clubs failed the criteria. There are three categories, A is mandatory and covers financial and legal issues. If it is not fulfilled then next categories won’t be looked at. In the spirit of fairness after finding that seven clubs had not made it, the emergency committee gave an extension to Friday, 23rd December noon,” FKF boss Mwendwa said at the time.