Football Kenya Federation (FKF) President Nick Mwendwa has outlined improved broadcast plans for the new 2024/25 FKF Premier League season.
Speaking at the sidelines of the FKF Gala Awards, Mwendwa further confirmed the new season will kick off with matchday one games on August 24.
Mwendwa revealed plans to increase live broadcast matches from three to six games every weekend and further hinted at having all the nine matches played every weekend live on TV by the 25/26 campaign.
“Our Premier League will get even better next season. We will have six live matches, an increase of three matches from the previous season and we are still talking to our broadcast partners to eventually make sure the next season after 2024/25 we will have all the nine matches live on TV,” Mwendwa told SportsBoom.
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“That alone is a great milestone achieved by FKF. At first we used to have only specific matches for the top teams maybe Gor Mahia, AFC Leopards and somehow Tusker live on TV. We came in and introduced three live matches every weekend, and now we are going even bigger by having six matches,” he said.
Mwendwa further announced that the neglected FKF Women Premier League will have a share of airtime on their broadcast partners Azam TV and Kenya’s government-owned TV channel Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC).
“Not only increasing live matches for the men’s league but we will also have the women’s league live on TV for the first time ever.
Most of their matches were being transmitted live on the FKF social media pages but now we are making another step to have at least two of their matches aired live by our broadcast partners,” added Mwendwa.
23/24 FKF Premier League champions
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Elsewhere, despite several complaints from top-flight clubs on poor officiating, Mwendwa defended referees saying they had done their best during the 2023/24 season.
“Most of the clubs making complaints on officiating are those that had lost a match. Did you ever hear any club complain after winning a match? Ask those clubs why the noise of poor officiating is heard whenever they lose a game,” said Mwendwa.
“We are not in a position to discuss refereeing now, the men in black did a good job. I repeat, all those clubs coming to us with complaints, they do it especially when they lose. If the clubs want to be fair, let them come to us also when they win a game so that we can see the difference.
“Referees train every season for their grade to reach the high FIFA standards required, these now have become automated. They receive what they are supposed to get, they get the highest training, there is no bias. If you make it then you make it, but you have to work.”
On the training of coaches, Mwendwa said: “Look at what we have achieved in training coaches, 8, 000 coaches trained over six years, CAF A, CAF B, CAF C, CAF D, every coach’s dream now is to attain a CAF qualification license from FKF, when you go to grassroot that is what every coach wants to do.”
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