NAIROBI, Kenya, May 21- The Kenyan Premier League (KPL) has declined a request from the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) to shelve this weekend’s fixtures including the Gor Mahia v AFC Leopards Mashemeji Derby to allow Harambee Stars play two friendly matches on Friday and Monday.
According to KPL Chief Executive Officer Jack Oguda, the two friendly games do not fall in the FIFA calendar and hence are under no obligation to shelve fixtures.
“We received a request from FKF on the same but we have declined because it is not an obligation for clubs to release their players. We are running on a very tight schedule and moving the fixtures will only work to congest the calendar further,” Oguda told Capital Sport.
He added; “They really have to plan on how they are going to use players. If clubs want to release players then it is under their own violation but games will continue.”
The federation had asked matches to be shelved to allow new head coach Sebastien Migne assess his squad having called up a squad of 24 players who are set to report to camp Monday morning.
-Formal request
“We made a formal request and we will still continue to engage to see whether in the spirit of sportsmanship we can have the games shelved. It is not a must because it is out of the FIFA calendar but we are only hoping we can have an agreement in goodwill,” FKF communications Chief Barry Otieno said.
As thus, Migne might have a challenge fielding strong sides in the friendly games against Swaziland and Equatorial Guinea. Most assuredly, he will be without Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards players who play in the Mashemeji Derby on Saturday in Kakamega.
Gor Mahia boss Dylan Kerr on Sunday admitted at being in the dark over what exactly will transpire in the coming week.
“The coach told me he needs the players in camp on Monday morning and again we have the derby coming up which is a huge game so I don’t know how things will go. If the derby is on, most definitely I will need my best players available,” the coach offered.
The squad of 24 players called up on Saturday has seven Gor Mahia players and three from AFC while three more are on the standby list. In total Migne already has 10 players out of the fixture.
