Gor Mahia players after winning the SportPesa trophy. [Photo/goal.com]With the 2017 Kenyan Premier League season put under the wraps this past weekend, clubs will allow their players a much-needed rest until
it comes the time when preparations for a new season need to get underway. The bottom line for both sides is: money will need to be spent to improve on the squads.
Below, we take a look at Kenya’s best paying football clubs:
1. Gor Mahia
The best clubs in the world pay their players the top dollar. And on this side of the Sahara, the best club is Gor Mahia: record Kenyan Premier League champions, 2014 Cecafa Cup runners up, 2017 Sportpesa Cup champions, regular participants in the CAF Champions League, to name but a few. Having missed on the title in 2016, Kogalo went about strengthening their 2017 squad and made key additions, the marquee signing being Kenneth Muguna, the 2016 MVP. Kogalo’s rivals, AFC Leopards, made the first contact with the player but the former Western Stima man must have been shown more brown notes by the Green Army. In joining Gor Mahia, Muguna became one of the club’s top earners alongside Rwandan duo Jacques Tuyisenge and Meddie Kagere and captain Musa Mohammed. With the 2017 KPL title in the bag and qualification for the now more lucrative CAF Champions League secured, the pasture at the Green Army is set to become greener.
2. AFC Leopards
Kenya’s second most successful club has been experiencing a rough patch over the past couple of years. They have tried to rebuild alright with new
players coming in every transfer window but that hasn’t been translating to success. This season however, they have made better progress as they won their first title (GOtv Shield) since 2013 and finished runners up in the Sportpesa Cup. Despite their highly documented struggles on and off the pitch over the past years, Ingwe continue to attract big name players. You don’t sign the Robinson Kamuras, Duncan Otienos and Victor Majids of this nation if you have a shoestring budget. The aforementioned trio are some of the Ingwe’s highest earners but with the club set for CAF Confederations Cup participation, expect more high profile players who command high pay to join the party.
3.Tusker FC
The Brewers won their 11th title last season but couldn’t defend it thanks to a couple of high profile exits and a terrible
start to their title defence. They were a shadow of their 2016 self this campaign and their 6th-place finish was extremelywarranted. Where they barely trail though is in the money market. With a sponsor that makes billions in profits every year, money is the least of worries for many, a Tusker FC player. Captain James Situma, his understudy Humphrey Mieno and former Kenyan international Allan Wanga are some of the club’s top earners. The likes of Eugene Asike, keeper David Okello and June acquisition Boniface Muchiri are ‘comfortable’ really and only bigger offers from clubs abroad can tempt them to switch allegiance.
4.
Bandari
The 2015 Shield champions look like a more established topflight club now having flattered with relegation in the subsequent years that followed their promotion in 2012. They had their best season in 2015, finishing fourth and winning the league cup which earned them the right to make their debut in the Confederations Cup. However, the exit of Ugandan tactician Paul Nkata to Tusker saw them drop from fourth to eleventh in 2016 and tenth this season. Despite such mid table mediocrity, the Dockers remain as one of the country’s most financially stable clubs. Their sponsor, Kenya Ports Authority, are moneybags and have ensured the club’s players are always paid on time, your take home depending on the contract you have signed. It is little wonder the likes of former AFC Leopards keeper Lucas Indeche and ex Gor Mahia man Edwin Lavatsa feel comfortable not playing regularly.
5. Sofapaka
Batoto ba Mungu, the 2009 topflight champions, looked destined for the drop halfway into the season. Mass player exodus at the end of 2016, brought about by financial issues, left the club in all manner of struggles. The club has had a reputation of being one of the best paying sides and so when they got a betting firm as their sponsor, they splashed the cash. Fast forward to the second half of the 2017 season and relegation talk was replaced by title talk. It however ended up being a case of too little too late as no one could break Gor Mahia’s stranglehold at the top. Second place finish looks just about fine and the club can again go big on the transfer market, pay players what they ask and go for another title challenge in 2018.