Legal uncertainty threatens Premier League's sustainability

The High Court’s ruling, rendered on August 28, 2026, on promotion and relegation regulations could have significant implications for the appeal of the Kenyan Premier League. The litigation is predicated on a battle over whether the 2025 or the 2019 regulations are the applicable rules on promotion and relegation for the 2026/2027 season.

The 2025 Regulations replaced the framework contained in the 2019 Football Kenya Federation (FKF) Rules and Regulations Governing Kenyan Football. Under the 2019 regulations, the bottom two Premier League teams were automatically relegated, while the team finishing 16th was required to play the third-placed National Super League (NSL) side for the final place in the top-flight league of 18 teams. The 2025 regulations provide for three clubs to be relegated automatically and three NSL teams to gain direct promotion, effectively eliminating the playoff. Following the conclusion of the 2025/2026 season, Kariobangi Sharks, Sofapaka and Bidco United would be relegated, while Migori Youth, 3K FC and Mombasa United would earn automatic promotion.

Kariobangi Sharks challenged the revised regulations at the Sports Disputes Tribunal (SDT), arguing that they were introduced without adequate public participation, the FKF’s National Executive Committee did not have authority to make the changes without General Assembly approval and changing the promotion/relegation framework after the season had already begun was procedurally unfair. The SDT ruled in favour of FKF on August 10, finding that the 2025 regulations had been validly adopted, leading to an appeal to the High Court. The High Court ruled that both parties must observe the status quo as at August 10, 2026, giving the Premier League the green light to proceed under the 2019 Rules. By August 28, when the Murang’a High Court cleared the way, FKF had lost six days of the league calendar, after weeks of legal uncertainty.

The immediate concern is that Kenyan football is running out of time with the league missing its scheduled August 22 kick-off. A delayed start cannot simply be solved by moving the fixtures forward. The domestic calendar has a finite number of weeks in which to accommodate the league, cup competitions, international breaks and continental commitments. Compressing the season could result in congested fixtures, reduced recovery time and increased pressure on players. It could also affect clubs representing Kenya in CAF competitions, which require participating clubs to enter continental competition with adequate competitive preparation. A domestic league that starts late or is compressed could leave Kenyan representatives struggling to achieve the level of match fitness required for continental competition.

The delayed timing is also unfortunate as Kenya is preparing to co-host the AFCON 2027 alongside Uganda and Tanzania in June-July 2027. In this regard, Harambee Stars will require a pool of fit and competitive players while coaches will need adequate time to monitor form and fitness. Clubs will also need to plan around international commitments. In the build-up to the tournament, the national team and FKF need to have a functioning domestic league from which to pick some of the players who will don the national colours in the tournament. Critically, our stadiums, particularly Nyayo Stadium, Ulinzi Sports Complex and Police Sacco Stadium, will also need to be rehabilitated to ensure they are available as suitable training grounds for teams participating in AFCON 2027.

Accordingly, the continued legal uncertainty that delayed the start of the season has left organisers with a compressed fixture calendar and clubs with inadequate time to prepare. This pressure will spill over into Kenya’s participation in CAF competitions, while also complicating preparations for the national team ahead of AFCON 2027. What may appear to be a dispute over league regulations could therefore evolve into a broader problem for Kenyan football, affecting clubs, players and national-team preparations alike.

The current crisis should therefore be used as an opportunity to address the structural weaknesses exposed by the dispute. FKF should publish a clear and consolidated framework identifying the regulations applicable to the 2026/27 season and explaining how existing court and tribunal orders affect their implementation. Promotion, relegation and player-eligibility rules should be settled in advance as clubs invest substantial finance and human resources based on those rules, and it’s unfair for this fundamental framework to be altered or become subject to prolonged litigation.

Also, where a dispute has the potential to affect the commencement or composition of a league, it should be determined on an expedited basis so that uncertainty does not extend into the playing season. At the same time, this requires better coordination between FKF, the SDT and the courts. Judicial and tribunal authority must be respected, but the institutions involved must also remain conscious of the practical consequences that orders affecting sporting competitions can have on clubs, players, sponsors and the wider football calendar.

FKF would be better served by strengthening consultation with clubs and other stakeholders before introducing fundamental changes to competition regulations to allow affected parties to raise legitimate concerns, identify and address potential legal and practical difficulties before a new season begins.

In that sense, greater regulatory certainty, faster dispute resolution and more inclusive decision-making should form part of a single effort to restore confidence in the administration of Kenyan football.