There will no prize money for the 2022-2023 Football Kenya Federation Premier League winner.Clubs playing trade in the league have had to fend for themselves as the competition doesn’t have a title, broadcast and other commercial partners.This means that the three teams; Tusker Gor Mahia and Nzoia Sugar who are, all in contention for the title will go home empty handed if sentiments by FKF President Nick Mwendwa are anything to go by.##NAJAVA_MECA_7283810##Mwendwa, regretted that, outstanding performers in the campaign may also suffer similar fate due to lack of a commercial partner.This heavily contrasts the 2020-2021 season where FKF PL feted the league champion and held the end of season awards ceremony.All is not lost as the winner will earn the right to play in the CAF Champions League next season.“There’s no money and we won’t reward the league champions this season. We will not have any prize giving, where is the money going to come from? This was just a rescue season. We might want to try and even have a gala, but we don’t have the statistics and a committee in place that should have been following players’ performance,” Mwendwa told Standard Sports.Gaspo reverse decision to boycott final game of the season against Vihiga QueensThe federation chief however promised to bumper harvest for clubs in the next term.Mwendwa confirmed that the campaign will kick off in August and run all the way to May 2024 with matches being beamed live as well as club licensing regulations coming into play.“But we are packaging something big for the new campaign and these clubs will smile throughout the season. I can’t give the details right now. Our season will officially run between August and May with broadcasting and sponsorship deals as well as club licensing. I’m not worried and I actually think this was a blessing in disguise because we all know now what we need to do,” he added.Against All Odds: The inspirational journey of Paul Jawa, refugee turned football starMeanwhile, Mwendwa blamed the financial constraints the top league is grappling with to the interference witnessed between November 2021 to late last year.Mwendwa and the FKF Executive Committee were hounded out of office in November 2021 with the functions of the body being transferred to the government-installed caretaker Committee.Pinchez relishing the coaching opportunity at Nairobi City StarsThe committee ran the three top leagues in the country for a season. FKF annulled the campaign upon resuming office.“We found ourselves in this situation because when there is no leadership and everything is in shambles there is nobody who wants to be part of it. There was nobody to speak to the sponsors when we were forcefully removed from the office. We had a seven-year broadcasting deal with StarTimes worth 1.4 million dollars a year. We used to give clubs between Sh300,000-Sh400,000 per month. Do you know how such amount of money comes in handy for these clubs? But that was cut off the day I was arrested. Two days later StarTimes walked away. “Asked if Tanzanian pay TV station Azam TV could be making its way into the Kenyan sports market after they broadcasted the Mashemeji derby two weeks ago, Mwendwa simply said: “There’s no deal yet with Azam, but they are interested in broadcasting our league.”
