This archive report was first published on 14 November 2019.
On Tuesday, the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) announced a significant sponsorship deal with betting firm Betika for the National Super League (NSL), worth Sh 30 million per year.
According to FKF president Nick Mwendwa, the federation has been struggling to find sponsorship due to the country's poor economic state. Mwendwa praised Betika for taking the risk to invest in sports, a move that many other companies have been hesitant to make.
“Businesses are not healthy and those that are healthy are a little reserved because they are not sure about the economy tomorrow. The betting industry has also been affected but now companies like Betika are coming in to risk and that’s why we are only getting Sh 30 million per year,” Mwendwa said in an interview with Business Today.
While the NSL has been struggling to secure sponsorship, the Kenya Premier League (KPL) is in an even more dire situation, with teams forfeiting matches due to lack of funds. Mwendwa and the FKF have been trying to secure a sponsorship deal for the KPL, but they can only do so after taking over the league.
“We have put an agent on it and we have people willing (to sponsor the KPL) but only after we take it over, not now,” Mwendwa remarked.
The KPL has been operating under a League Management Company independent from the FKF, with a contract that runs until September 2020. According to Mwendwa, any potential sponsor for the KPL will have to wait until after September 2020 to take over.
Recently, several clubs informed the federation that they did not have the funds to honour fixtures, leading to missed matches. The lack of money in Kenyan football affects not only players and clubs but also match officials, with hundreds of players, dozens of coaches, and match officials complaining about unpaid salaries and allowances.
There have been rumours of a potential sponsorship deal between Equity Bank and the FKF, but FKF CEO Jack Oguda dismissed the claims, stating that the KPL has not entered into any agreement with Equity Bank.
