Football Kenya Federation (FKF) has declined to allow Bandari to take part in this year’s Mapinduzi Cup tournament.The federation has told the club allowing them to travel to Zanzibar for the tournament will ‘disrupt’ the league.According to Bandari vice chairman Twaha Mbarak the bad news was relayed to them on Thursday.Gor win to open 5-point FKFPL lead“We have unfortunately been told we cannot go for the tournament even though we were ready and prepared to take part.Coming as the league has taken a break we don’t see how our going away was going to disrupt the league. In case we were to proceed to the final on January 13, we had already made arrangements with Nzoia Sugar to postpone our match with them,” he explained.Mbarak said they have missed a great opportunity to expose their players.##NAJAVA_MECA_7759435##“Looking at the caliber of teams who are taking part in the tournament, this was going to be a great opportunity to expose our team.”Bandari FC are the only Kenyan club invited to the tournament.Other invited teams are Azam FC, Mlandege FC, Singida Fountain Gate, Yanga SC, Jamhuri FC and Simba.The Mapinduzi Cup is organized by the government of Zanzibar together with the Zanzibar Football Federation (ZFF) to commemorate Zanzibar’s Revolution Day which is marked annually.Mapinduzi Cup will be live on @azamtvtz pic.twitter.com/wHAWwpyAwP— Mihigo Saddam “Mkude” (@mihigosadam) December 21, 2023 Azam FC has won the Mapinduzi Cup a record five times, while Simba has lifted it three times, Mtibwa Sugar and Young Africans SC twice. Zanzibar’s Jamhuri, KMKM SC, Zanzibar Police, Mafunzo FC, Miembeni FC, and Malindi Sc each lifted the title once while Uganda’s sides KCCA FC and URA FC have also lifted the trophy once.Reigning champions Simba will be looking to defend the title they won last edition.
