The Federation has also stated the new deal will not affect teams who have already secured their shirt sponsors
Clubs in the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) and the National Super League (NSL) will be competing in a Super 16 competition set to premier in the 2020/21 season.
Football Kenya Federation head Nick Mwendwa has confirmed the new tournament will take the place of the initial one dubbed the KPL Top 8 which had only included top-flight football clubs.
“We will have a new tournament from next season called Super 16 which will be sponsored by BetKing,” Mwendwa told Goal on Thursday.
“This is a competition which will involve the top eight teams in both the KPL, which will be referred to as BetKing Premier League and the NSL.
“Matches will be played under floodlights and there will be monetary rewards and other prizes for the participating teams.”
AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia recently secured a three-year deal with BetSafe. Sofapaka have Betika as their shirt sponsors. Will the deal between FKF and BetKing affect them?
“The BetKing deal will not affect shirt sponsors for clubs,” Mwendwa revealed.
“You can see Liverpool with Standard Chartered Bank while the [Premier League] is sponsored by Barclays Bank.
“So we will not have any issues there because BetKing are title sponsors and the others are shirt sponsors for the teams. Nothing will change and it will not affect anything.”
BetKing will sponsor the Premier League for five years and is expected to fork out up to KSh1.2 billion for the participating teams.
The arrival of the betting firm marks the biggest sponsorship deal ever inked by the Premier League in its history. BetKing will take the place that was left by the previous sponsor SportPesa whose exit left a huge hole in all teams’ pockets as well as league managers; the KPL Limited Company.
Part of the deal agreed between Kenya’s FA and the new sponsor is the renaming of the competition.
FKF will take the management mantle from KPL whose contract ends in July 2020. Mwendwa has been categorical that they were not keen to renew KPL’s contract.
The 2020/21 season will mark the first time FKF is managing the top-flight after an era that spurned over a decade when the league was under KPL.
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