Kakamega Homeboyz Boss Reveals Heavy Cost of Delayed Premier League Kick-Off

Kakamega Homeboyz chairman Cleophas Shimanyula is among those relieved that FKF Premier League action is finally back.

The Kenyan top flight is set to kick off on September 19 after a lengthy delay owing to court cases that have been contesting the promotion and relegation regulations.

With the last league action played on May 31, it has been three-and-a-half months since, and Shimanyula says the extended pre-season has taken its toll on clubs financially.

Revealing how much his team has spent on salaries alone, Shimanyula was critical of Football Kenya Federation (FKF) over the slow pace of resolving the impasse that has delayed the league’s resumption.

“We have spent a lot of money waiting for the league to kick off,” Shimanyula told the media in Kakamega after unveiling the club’s new players.

“You have to pay salaries to the players even when they are not playing and for us as Homeboyz, our salaries are over Ksh3.5 million per month. So we are paying this and they are not playing, just training. So to me, all teams have suffered,” he added.

The impasse is as a result of FKF’s directive that promotion and relegation during the 2025-26 season would be done using the 2025 regulations, which state that three teams will go down and as many get promoted.

However, Kariobangi Sharks, who finished 16th in the top flight, contested this, claiming the season was played under the 2019 regulations, and as such, relegation and promotion should follow the same.

The 2019 regulations state that the two bottom teams from the top flight get automatically relegated and the two top sides from the second tier get promoted while third in the National Super League play a playoff with 16th in the Premier League.

The matter was first heard by the Sports Disputes Tribunal, which sided with FKF, but Sharks moved to the High Court in Milimani, Nairobi to challenge this directive.

The Nairobi court halted the top flight until the matter is mentioned on September 21 but another court in Murang’a gave FKF the go ahead to resume league, under the 2019 rules, until the Milimani case is determined.

Sharks, and Mombasa United, who finished third in the second tier, remain excluded from the fixture list, pending the outcome of the Nairobi case which will decide whether a playoff will take place or not.