Football Kenya Federation (FKF) have reverted to a two-zone league format for the Women’s Premier League following a pre-season meeting between FKF officials and team managers.
The league was played in the same format in 2014 and was merged into one in the 2017 season.
The two zones—A and B will comprise of eight teams each and the top three teams from each zone at the end of the season will compete in a mini-league to determine the winner.
Zone ‘A’ teams will consist of teams mainly from the Nairobi region. They include— Buruburu-based Makolanders, Kayole Starlets, Gaspo Youth, Mathare United and Zetech Sparks. Others are Kibera Girls Soccer Academy, Thika Queens and premier league debutants Ulinzi Starlets.
Zone ‘B’ will include newly promoted SEP Oyugis and Nakuru West Queens. Others in the western zone are—defending champions Vihiga Queens, Wadadia, Oserian Ladies, Kisumu All Starlets, Trans Nzoia Falcons and Eldoret Falcons. The reasoning behind the division is to offload the financial constraints that the participating teams undergo.
In an interview, Makolanders head coach, Rishadi Shedu welcomed the move, saying that the dissection of the league was the way to go.
“Most of the teams in the league lack the financial muscle to travel since they are self-funding. This is why the division of the league is a wise thing to do,” he said.
Kayole Starlets head coach joshua Sakwa is also open to the move made by FKF and the stakeholders. “I second the move especially because the federation doesn’t provide any funding to the teams. It will make things easier for us since travelling to Thika will not be as hard as travelling to Vihiga,” Joshua Sakwa said.
On the other hand, Mathare United coach Mary Adhiambo intimated that the move is two-fold. “ on one hand, It is a good move because of the financial constraints; but also poses a challenge because we will only get to meet players from one region hence the league could lack competition,” she said. New fixtures were released ahead of the change and the league is set to start on March 7th.
