2007 in Kenyan football

The following article is a summary of the 2007 football season in Kenya, the 44th competitive season in its history.

Football in Kenya
Season2007
Men's football
Premier LeagueTusker
President's CupSofapaka
Kenya

Premier League

The league was originally supposed to begin in autumn of 2006, but wrangles between two factions led to a parallel league situation. One of them, the Kenyan Premier League, had only seven teams, but were backed by FIFA. Remaining teams formed the KFFPL, supported by the Kenyan government. Teams affiliated to KPL were private clubs and company teams, such as Tusker, and teams owned by non-governmental organizations, like sister clubs Mathare United and Mathare Youth, while teams affiliated to KFFPL were traditional community clubs like Gor Mahia, A.F.C. Leopards and Shabana Kisii, or teams belonging to government-owned organizations.

However, in March 2007, the two leagues were finally united into an 18-team league, though two teams, Mumias Sugar and Kangemi United, disbanded halfway through. The two relegated teams, A.F.C. Leopards and Shabana Kisii were not readmitted, although there were some calls for a larger 20-team league. This was in light of the equally controversial inclusion of Gor Mahia who had been expelled mid-season from the league in the previous season, and Mathare United, which had been relegated for fielding an ineligible player in ten matches.

The season finished in November 2007 with Tusker as the champions and Homegrown and Coast Stars relegated.[1] Bandari and Western Stima gained promotion for the following season.[2][3] Coast Stars appealed against the relegation to their financier Mohamed Hatimy, who also doubled up as the chairman of Kenya Football Federation. Hatimy's decision to reinstate the club was vetoed by FIFA following submissions by KPL.

Final table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Tusker (C, Q) 30 16 11 3 43 21 +22 59 Qualification for 2008 CAF Champions League
2 Mathare United 30 15 11 4 34 13 +21 56
3 Sony Sugar 30 14 13 3 35 15 +20 55
4 Red Berets 30 13 7 10 35 35 0 46
5 Sher Agencies 30 12 9 9 34 31 +3 45
6 Ulinzi Stars 30 11 10 9 31 28 +3 43
7 Chemelil Sugar 30 12 6 12 30 26 +4 42
8 World Hope 30 11 9 10 32 39 −7 42
9 Thika United 30 8 15 7 24 21 +3 39
10 Mathare Youth 30 9 7 14 23 33 −10 34
11 Gor Mahia 30 9 7 14 24 36 −12 34
12 Agrochemical 30 8 9 13 27 28 −1 33
13 Mahakama 30 8 7 15 28 43 −15 31
14 Kenya Commercial Bank 30 7 9 14 30 33 −3 30
15 Homegrown (R) 30 8 5 17 24 44 −20 29 Relegation to 2008 Nationwide League
16 Coast Stars (R) 30 7 7 16 31 49 −18 28
Source:
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (Q) Qualified for the phase indicated; (R) Relegated

President's Cup

The President's Cup was marred by the withdrawal of many leading teams. The cup was eventually won by Nationwide League side Sofapaka.

Since clubs from the Central African Republic, Chad, Kenya, Rwanda and Sierra Leone were disqualified for failure to fulfill their financial obligations,[4] Sofapaka were unable to compete in the 2008 CAF Confederation Cup.

Semifinals Finals
      
1 Sofapaka 1
4 Nakuru Police 0
Sofapaka 2
Homegrown 0
3 Homegrown 2
2 Gor Mahia 1

National team

Africa Cup of Nations

The national team finished the qualification phase of the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations third in its group and missed the final tournament. They had played two out of their six qualifying matches in 2006, which are included below.

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Angola 6 4 1 1 16 5 +11 13
 Eritrea 6 2 3 1 5 8 −3 9
 Kenya 6 2 1 3 6 7 −1 7
 Swaziland 6 0 3 3 0 7 −7 3
Source:
September 2, 2006 Kenya  1 - 2  Eritrea Moi International Sports Centre, Nairobi
Mambo 65' Origi 60' (o.g.)
Shimangus 68'
October 8, 2006 Angola  3 - 1  Kenya Estádio da Cidadela, Luanda
Flávio 27', 68'
Mateus 60'		 Ambani 81'
March 25, 2007 Kenya  2 - 0  Swaziland Nyayo National Stadium, Nairobi
Mariga 51'
Shikanda 75'
June 3, 2007 Swaziland  0 - 0  Kenya Somhlolo National Stadium, Lobamba
June 16, 2007 Eritrea  1 - 0  Kenya Asmara Stadium, Asmara
Aregay 80'
September 8, 2007 Kenya  2 - 1  Angola Nyayo National Stadium, Nairobi
Oboya 18'
Oliech 87'		 Manucho 35'

CECAFA Cup

Kenya also competed in the 2007 CECAFA Cup. They reached the quarter-finals but lost 4-2 on penalties to Uganda.

Group stage

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Burundi 3 2 1 0 4 0 +4 7
 Tanzania 3 2 1 0 3 1 +2 7
 Kenya 3 1 0 2 3 3 0 3
 Somalia 3 0 0 3 0 6 −6 0
Source:
December 8, 2007 Tanzania  2 - 1  Kenya National Stadium, Dar es Salaam
Khalfan 16' (pen.)
Mrwanda 89'		 Report Wanga 45'
December 12, 2007 Kenya  0 - 1  Burundi National Stadium, Dar es Salaam
Report Mbazumutima 33'
December 14, 2007 Kenya  2 - 0  Somalia National Stadium, Dar es Salaam
Mwangi 45'
Wanga 55'		 Report

Quarter-finals
December 18, 2007 Uganda  1 - 1
(4 - 2 p)		  Kenya National Stadium, Dar es Salaam
Okhuti 23' Report Wanga 75'
Penalties

Other matches

The following is a list of other matches played by Kenya in 2007.

May 27, 2007 International
friendly		 Kenya  0 - 1  Nigeria Nairobi, Kenya
Report
June 10, 2007 International
friendly		 Kenya  2 - 0  Rwanda Nairobi, Kenya
Report
November 21, 2007 International
friendly		 Oman  2 - 2  Kenya Muscat, Oman
Report
November 22, 2007 International
friendly		 Oman  1 - 1  Kenya Muscat, Oman
Report

References
  1. Daily Nation, November 22, 2007: Mahakama survive relegation in league
  2. Daily Nation, November 18, 2007: Brilliant brewers clinch crown
  3. Kenyafootball, Dec 18, 2007: Panpaper lose out to Western Stima in promo battle Archived 2008-02-21 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Gleeson, Mark (2008-02-10). "Five countries excluded from African club competition". Reuters. Archived from the original on 13 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-10.
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