The 2026/27 SportPesa League remains in limbo despite Football Kenya Federation releasing the fixtures for the new season, with ongoing court proceedings and a standoff between the federation and club chairmen threatening to overshadow the start of the campaign.
FKF has scheduled Match Week One for the weekend of August 29–30, 2026, with the FKF Super Cup between Tusker and Gor Mahia set for August 23 as the curtain-raiser to the new campaign.
Full Fixtures here:
However, the release of the league fixtures comes at a time when the Kenya Premier League Club Chairmen Leadership Forum has maintained that clubs will not honour the programme until outstanding questions surrounding the management and governance of the competition are addressed.
The dispute stems from a May meeting between FKF leadership and SportPesa League club chairmen, where both sides agreed on a roadmap towards restoring an autonomous management structure for the top flight.
One of the key resolutions was the establishment of a Transition League Management Committee (TLMC), which was expected to oversee the process of creating a fully autonomous league management body.
The club chairmen now argue that the agreed transition has not been implemented, yet FKF has continued with preparations for the new season and gone ahead with the release of the fixtures.
Their position creates an unusual situation: the league programme is officially out, but the clubs have already warned that they will not honour it until the governance questions are settled.
The governance dispute is unfolding alongside a separate legal battle over FKF’s promotion and relegation regulations.
The Sports Disputes Tribunal recently upheld FKF’s 2025 promotion and relegation regulations, ruling that they were properly ratified by the federation’s National Executive Committee and did not require approval by the General Assembly.
The regulations provide for three teams to be promoted from the National Super League and three teams to be relegated directly from the top flight, replacing the previous promotion/relegation playoff system.
Kariobangi Sharks challenged the regulations after finishing 16th in the 2025/26 top-flight campaign, arguing that the older 2019 regulations should apply and give the club an opportunity to retain its top-flight status through a playoff.
The SDT ruling strengthened FKF’s position on the regulations, but it did not bring the wider legal dispute to an end.
A separate case filed by football stakeholder Evans Nduta at the Murang’a High Court challenges the manner in which FKF adopted and implemented the regulations. Justice Deborah Chepkwony dismissed FKF’s preliminary objection on July 24, allowing the case to proceed. FKF has since moved to the Court of Appeal to challenge the High Court’s jurisdiction.
The legal uncertainty, therefore, remains another factor hanging over the new season, even as FKF moves ahead with its preparations.
The May agreement between FKF and the club chairmen had envisaged a comprehensive and inclusive transition towards an autonomous league management body, while also taking into account existing football regulations and commercial obligations involving SportPesa and broadcast partner Azam Media.
The club chairmen’s refusal to honour the fixtures until the governance issue is addressed now puts the federation’s preparations under scrutiny.
The first major test could come on August 23, when Tusker and Gor Mahia face off in the FKF Super Cup. Six days later, attention will turn to the opening weekend of the SportPesa League, with Match Week One scheduled for August 29–30.
Whether the league actually gets underway as scheduled will depend largely on whether FKF and the club chairmen can bridge their differences before then.
