William Ruto at a past sporting event. FKF is yet to receive the sponsorship promised by DP Ruto. [Photo/Capitalfm]
As Football Kenya Federation (FKF) awaits the government’s confirmation on how much of their Sh500 million annual budget the state will shoulder following the exit of their main sponsor, federation president Nick Mwendwa has hinted of a possible cutdown of activities due to the cash crunch.
Confirming that the federation is in talks with both the government and their former sponsor SportPesa in a bid to reach an amicable solution to the stalemate, Mwendwa hopes that an agreement will be reached before the league kicks-off February 2.
“The government has agreed to support us as we try and recover what we lost as a game. However, they are yet to state how much they will give. It could be less or more but we have to prioritize when the funds come,” said Mwendwa.
SportPesa’s sponsorship for FKF went as far as paying the national team coach and the technical director as well as catering for the expenses of the national teams’ activities with the help of the government.
With the burden lies squarely on the governments in the absence of a sponsor, other projects are bound to suffer.
“In the event, the funding does not match our budget, we will be forced to give priority to some project and the biggest losers will be our grassroots projects that included coaching courses and the youth leagues.
We hope to have a response by the end of the week so as to have a clear picture of what we are facing,” Mwendwa said.
The situation, is however dire, as the Deputy President William Ruto last week announced a Sh500 million cash pledge, an equivalent of FKF’s budget, for those affected by SportPesa’s withdrawal whose list stretches from football to boxing, rugby, and motorsport.
FKF’s budget does not touch on Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards who received Sh 600 million and Sh 450 million respectively and are bound to need more finances given their increased budgets as they participate in the continental assignments this year.