FKF Premier League season in numbers

Not surprisingly, champions Gor Mahia scored the most goals, 50, with Ebenezer Assifuah-Inkoom leading with a club-high eight goals, followed by Felix Oluoch on seven, and Ebenezer Adu-Kwaw and Shariff Musa on six apiece.

The relegated duo of Bidco United and Sofapaka scored the least goals at 19 apiece. Sofapaka also conceded the most goals, 51, and it did not come as a surprise that they faced the big axe.

In fact, Sofapaka finished the season on a 26-match winless streak during which they lost 18 times and drew eight matches.

You would expect the league-winning team to perhaps have the meanest defence. Not so in this one, this season, as third-placed finishers Kenya Police recorded the fewest goals conceded at 21. Champions Gor did have a mean defence too, as they let in the second least number of goals at 22.

Read: League prize money jumps to Sh15m, but is it enough?

Kenya Police and Shabana had the most clean sheets at 17, with champions Gor not letting in any goal in 16 fixtures.

Muranga Seals finished in position eight but produced the Golden Boot winner in the frame of their 31-year-old captain Joseph “King Joe” Waithira, who plundered 19 goals. He was closely followed in second place by Ulinzi Stars forward Paul Okoth, who had 18 goals.

In the end, rookies APS Bomet finished in a comfortable 10th position, but they must have been one of the most worried teams during the season. The Bomet side spent 182 days, the second highest by any team, below the relegation line.

A late surge that saw them go unbeaten in 11 matches, winning seven times and drawing four matches, saw them climb well out into the safety zone.

Only relegated Sofapaka spent more days in the danger zones, 184 days. They recorded the fewest clean sheets in the 18-team league, eight.

Read: Star signings and Churchillian speeches: How Gor Mahia won Kenyan league title

Bandari never hid their title ambitions, but it all came to nought. Their notable distinction, if you can call it that, was owning the unenviable record of most matches drawn, a staggering 17, and coming just one match shy of equaling the all-time league record of most matches drawn in a season shared by eight clubs -- Kenya Breweries (1986), Mathare United (2005/06, 2010), Posta Rangers (2017), Reunion (1994), Scarlet (1986) and Utalii (1994, 1996)

Champions Gor, as expected, notched up many firsts. They were the season’s best team on the road, winning a league-high 38 points on the road. Incidentally, they comparatively won fewer points at home, 31.

Their rivals, AFC Leopards, won the most points in home matches, 33, compared to 31 away.

Twelve-time league champions Tusker were never in the title run this season. The Brewers were the only team that occupied all 18 positions in the Premier League.

So they did indeed top the standings for one day. Eight other clubs also occupied this vaunted position, namely Gor Mahia, who spent 163 days at the top, including the season’s last 132 days, AFC Leopards (21 days), Shabana (18), Kakamega Homeboyz (16), Posta Rangers (16), Kenya Police (9), KCB (6) and one-time relegation candidates Ulinzi Stars (3).

A 13th league title eluded AFC Leopards, but they finished as the most improved team compared to their performance last year.

“Yamatere”, who have been chasing for the title for 28 years, finished in second place with 64 points, 13 more than what they garnered last season, which earned them a sixth-place finish.

Finally, Gor ended up earning the most prize money handed out to the winning team in the history of the Premier League, a whopping Sh15m. Last year’s league winner got nothing, and the season before that, a then record Sh5million.

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