CAF Club Licensing: FKF-PL clubs rush to acquire women's teams

Football Kenya Federation Premier League (FKF-PL) clubs are rushing against time to fulfill the requirements of having a women's team in their ranks before next season.

Football Kenya Federation’s First Instance Board (FIB) has already granted Gor Mahia, Kakamega Homeboyz and Tusker FC licences having met the basic requirements before the June 15 deadline.

Kenya Police FC on Friday confirmed that the club had acquired Kenya Women Premier (KWPL) giants Thika Queens. The club will now be called Kenya Police Bullets FC.

The clubs are moving to align with CAF rules that made it mandatory for all clubs taking part in the inter-club competitions to have women teams in their ranks.

"Specifically on the sporting criteria in the CAF Men’s Club Licensing Regulations (edition 2022), CAF has now introduced a requirement for women’s football teams, which means that clubs intending to participate in the CAF Interclubs competitions must have at minimum one (01) women’s first team participating in a competition sanctioned by the member association. To comply with this requirement, clubs may operate the women’s team(s) itself or have a written agreement with another entity who operates the team(s)," CAF said.

FKF CEO Barry Otieno emphasised that implementing the club licensing rules is the only pathway to ensure professionalism in football governance in the country.

“For a long time, we have focused on a national football administration structure yet our roots, the clubs, are built on quicksand structures. Club licensing introduces a critical framework to strengthen football at the foundation of the game. As a Federation, we are committed to guiding the clubs to meet standards to ensure professionalism and sustainability,” said Otieno.

The club licensing process will start next month.

Nineteen times Kenyan league champions Gor Mahia have reportedly entered into a partnership with Acakoro Ladies which will see the later change its name to Gor Mahia Queens Football Club.

Defending champions Tusker will are set to support Division One side MacMillan Queens financially as Kakamega Homeboyz will acquire Kakamega Starlets.

Kakamega Starlets were crowned champions of the FKF Western Women Regional League 2022/23 season after finishing top with 35 points from 13 matches.

MacMillan head coach Joseph Ochieng' told Nation Sport that they are in the process of signing a long-term deal with Tusker.

"We are in talks for sponsorship with Tusker but we have not yet finalised the deal," said Ochieng'.

With three matches to the conclusion of the 2022/23 Division One Women's League, MacMillan are eighth in Zone A table standings with 26 points.