By: Solomon Wise, 2023 December
The KPL officially known as the FKF premier league was formed in 1963 under the Kenya Football Federation but now it is controlled by the Football Kenya Federation (FKF), it is contested by eighteen clubs which operate on a promotion and relegation criteria with the Kenyan national super League.
Shabana, Muhoroni Youth and Muranga are the three teams promoted to the KPL in the 2023/24 season.
The KPL is operated and run as a private limited company which is fully owned and managed by the 18 member clubs with each club being a shareholder. There have been three sponsors in the KPL since August 2012 namely:
- East African Breweries for the period of 2012-2015 signed a worth Ksh 170million deal.
- SportPesa for the period of 2015-2018 signed worth Ksh 450million deal.
- No title sponsor for the period of 2018-2019.
- BetKing from 2020 to 2021 signed a worth Ksh 1.2billion deal.
- No title sponsor for the period of 2021-present.
The course of the season normally happens between August to May in which the club with the most points after the total of 34 games played are crowned champions, if there is a tie in points then goal difference is considered in crowning the champion.
Gor Mahia are the most successful club having won the title 20 times followed by Tusker who have won the title 13 times then AFC Leopards are third with 12 titles and the all-time goal scorer in a single season is Elvis Rupia with 27 goals who played for Kenya Police in 2022/23 season. Currently, in the 2023/24 standings, Gor Mahia is top of the league having played 13 matches so far.
The biggest and well-known derby in the KPL is the mashemeji derby which is between Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards. These teams have met 92 times since the league started in 1963 and gor have won 31 times, AFC have won 27 times and 34 times resulted in a draw.
There have been rumours of match-fixing in the KPL since 2019 and four players were banned in 2020.
What’s your take on match-fixing in the KPL?
