Kalekwa says challenging to get KPL sponsor

Elly Kalekwa, the head of sponsorship at the Kenya Premier League (KPL), says their contract situation with Football Kenya Federation has been a barrier in negotiating for sponsorship deals for the top-flight league.

The KPL Ltd’s mandate to manage the league ended at the close of last season and FKF has indicated they will not renew that contract having ushered a new steering committee for what will henceforth be referred to as the FKF-PL.

“KPL which is a big brand but the problem is that our contract is coming to an end. If you go to ask for support, the potential partners say they can’t do so with no surety of tenure from KPL,” Kalekwa said.

Sofapaka FC, for which Kalekwa is president, recently announced they had extended their deal with a betting firm after agreeing a deal worth Sh77 million – a massive upgrade from the initial Sh35 million figure they received in 2019.

A transitional committee led by Ulinzi Stars’ chairman Erick Oloo, has already been constituted by the FKF with the mandate to put in place structures on how the new league will run from next season.

On April 30, FKF confirmed Gor Mahia as the 2019/20 Kenyan Premier League (KPL) champions after top-tier league took a break in mid-March owing to the Covid-19 pandemic with no definite return date. By the time, K’Ogalo were leading the table with 54 points after playing 23 matches.

However, Kenyan Premier League Limited protested the move stating the Federation had no legal mandate to annul the league and raised the same with the Sports Disputes Tribunal (SDT).

The Tribunal is set to rule over the same before the end of August.

As for now the transfer is open since early August and it will be open for 12 weeks closing on Monday, November 2 for the [Kenyan] Premier League and Monday, November 9 the [National] Super League at 1700Hrs.

The window for international transfers closes on Monday, November 2 at 2359Hrs.

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KPL Elly Kalekwa

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