NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 26 – The Kenyan Premier League has Thursday evening announced that matches set for this weekend had been postponed over the current political climate in the country, which has made it difficult for teams to travel to their respective game venues.
There was reported violence in sections of Nyanza and according to various coaches, teams found it hard to train under the prevailing circumstances, let alone make travel arrangements.
“Kenyan Premier League will continue to monitor the situation and stay in contact with the relevant security agencies so as to ensure the safety and welfare of players, technical staff, referees, fans, and other stakeholders in the remaining rounds of matches,” KPL said in a statement.
Violence was reported over Thursday’s presidential election which was opposed and boycotted by the Opposition, leading to unrest in their strongholds.
The KPL was also forced to cancel weekend matches after the August 8 General Election and this weekend’s postponement will now give teams a huge backlog with the season having been protracted to end on November 18.
There are four rounds of KPL matches remaining and with the championship already decided, the end-season attention has been drawn to the relegation dog-fight.
Clubs have this season been forced to work with a congested calendar, the election disruption coupled up with a late start to the season owing to fights between KPL and Football Kenya Federation over the expansion of the top tier league.
“Kenyan Premier League understands the strain this will have on clubs as the season is set to conclude on Saturday, 18 November, therefore, a request will be made to the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) to surrender the FIFA weekend of 11/12 November for the scheduling of league matches,”
League matches will now resume on Wednesday November 1 while the postponed round 31 matches will be played on November 14.
The National Super League which is under the management of FKF had already announced that matches for the second tier will be deferred until November 1.
