Kenyan football league boss refuses to bow down to federation

Kenyan Premier League (KPL) chairman Ambrose Rachier has said it will not back down on conducting a 16-team top flight football league this season despite the country's federation withdrawing the right to organise the competition.

Football Kenya Federation (FKF) in a meeting passed a resolution to form a new organisation to run the league on their behalf where 18 teams will feature. The move potentially spells the advent of parallel domestic top flights running in the country, reports Xinhua.

But Rachier has dismissed FKF's claims, saying they were still in charge of the competition demanding the federation to reveal the recommendations of world football governing body FIFA's experts who were sent to the country to unlock the impasse between the feuding governing bodies.

"We will maintain our ground and continue with our plans to run the league. Our league starts Feb 21 with 14 teams and the two promoted teams. If we do not find common ground with FKF on the matter, we will run our own league," Rachier said Monday.

The chairman denied FKF claims that they had shared the FIFA report with him, saying even the Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Art and Culture had asked for it without success.

"I want to appeal to the FKF president to release the FIFA report which contains recommendations for the 16-team as opposed to the 18-team league. We are aware there are certain serious recommendations and there is need to see it and act on it," he said.

"We wonder why the report is being kept under the surface when it was meant for all the stakeholders."