Thursday 22 April 2021, 04:55

Women’s Premier League in Kenya gets a big push

  • There are 32 teams in the top two leagues of Kenyan women’s football

  • 400 out of 496 matches played in both leagues up to the end of November 2018

  • 80 per cent of the Women’s National Team in the recent Women’s AFCON 2018 played in the Women’s Premier League

With a population of more than 52.2 million people, Kenyans are known to be extremely passionate about football and the potential for women’s football to develop in such an extended African territory is tremendous.

As a result, women’s football development has become one of the top priorities of the Football Kenya Federation (FKF). The Kenyan Women's Premier League is the top tier women's football league in the Kenyan football league pyramid.

Since the beginning of the leagues in February 2018, the FKF - with the help of FIFA Forward - has been supporting the operations of the Women’s Premier League and the Women’s Division 1 League. With the funds allocated, the member association covered all costs related to venue hire, equipment, medical services and allowances for match officials for all 32 teams.

Played in different areas across the country, the Women’s Division 1 league is predicted to evolve into a national league. As a result of the success of the leagues, Kenya has been selected to participate in a FIFA Women’s Football Division pilot programme, which will establish U-13 and U-15 girls’ leagues in primary schools.

The African member association and FIFA are hopeful that this new initiative will encourage more girls across the East African country to play football and start dreaming about becoming the new football talents of tomorrow.

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