Shikanda crossing fingers over govt, FKF funding to salvage dire situation

AFC Leopards chairman Dan Shikanda says he’s expecting some cash from financially crippled FKF to help solve financial turmoil at the den.

Though the federation has supervisory powers of the KPL clubs as the supreme football body in the land, Shikanda’s claims could be dead in water bearing in mind that FKF is equally caught between a rock and a hard place as far as finances is concerned.

The federation was ordered by the international Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) to pay former Harambee Stars coach Adel Amrouche some Sh108 million for wrongful dismissal but is yet to do so.

Fifa had given an extended deadline which lapses tonight and Kenya could be thrown out of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers for failing to pay the monies.

But despite the difficult situation, Leopards who are also teetering on the brink of player mutiny due to finances owed to them, Shikanda is cautiously hopeful they could get ‘something small’ from the federation

The federation had given clubs in the Kenyan Premier League, National Super League, Women Premier League and FKF Division One League – men and women – till close of business yesterday (Thursday) to send them vital databases of 30-members of their squads.

The local football body is already in talks with government, FIFA and partners to cushion players, coaches, referees and football stakeholders at large as the Covid-19 pandemic bites hard.

“We have been down financially but at the same time we have been working hard to put in place mitigation measures and make sure that things do not worsen.”

“We thank FKF, the government through the Ministry of Sports which in my understanding is planning to get some money for us in these trying times,” he said.

However Shikanda has assured that the playing unit is doing well despite the effects brought about by the deadly Covid-19 pandemic.

Leopards and perennial rivals Gor Mahia are among the many clubs in the already suspended Kenyan Premier League that had already gone for months without salary payment even before the country announced its first coronavirus case.

“We have paid them some amount of money to enable them meet their basic needs so as not to make their lives harder. So far they are in good shape and we are hoping that they will go through the pandemic with ease now that there is something that we have been trying to do,” he enthused.

Ingwe have heavily been depending on match day collections in their home matches to run and so the suspension of football operations in the country has compounded to the situation.

Shikanda, a former Leopards player is also confident that the club will land a sponsorship in the post Covid-19 era despite the fact that most companies have registered losses because of the pandemic.