There has been an ongoing debate collating and contrasting competitiveness of regional championships
Posta Rangers head coach Sammy Omollo has refuted claims the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) pales in comparison to other regional competitions.
Debate on whether Zambian or Tanzanian leagues are the best has been rife for a couple of days, with some suggesting the Kenyan top-flight has lost its premier position in the regions, but Omollo does not agree with them.
“If someone tells me the two leagues [Zambian and Tanzanian leagues] are more financially stable then I will agree with them because that is the truth,” Omollo told Goal.
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“But let me tell you and we can just go to five years ago when our league was much better than Tanzania’s or even the Zambian league. Foreigners were joining our league and it is because we had sponsors and TV rights.
“Meddie Kagere and such other players came and I am sure if we still had sponsors and TV rights players like Francis Kahata and Farouk Sihkalo would have not left.
“As coaches, we watch those games and I can tell you there is nothing unusual about them compared to our league.
“It is only that it is being watched by millions of people because of TV rights.”
The former Kenya international revisited the African Cup of Nation clash between Kenya and Tanzania in Egypt in 2019 to buttress his argument on why the KPL is better.
Kenya emerged 3-2 winners in Group C’s final match as both exited the competition in the group stage.
“We had Afcon match and we defeated Tanzania which means we have the quality from our league and KPL can be said to be on top of Tanzania’s league straight,” explained Omollo.
The tactician also compared Gor Mahia and Tanzanian teams’ performances in Caf competitions last season.
“We had Gor Mahia our champions doing better in the Caf Champions League than Tanzania’s Simba SC. Look at the number of goals that Yanga conceded in their Champions League games?” asked the Rangers coach.
“Look at those statistics and tell me. Bandari did fairly well in the Confederation Cup too which means we are better.”
The SportPesa Super Cup 2018 edition also gave Omollo more room to argue as to why Kenyan teams are better. In the tournament, Kariobangi Sharks defeated Yanga before eventually lifting the trophy.
In the previous edition, Gor Mahia had seen off Simba.
“The last time Simba met with Gor Mahia the Kenyan champions were winners. Kariobangi played against Yanga and defeated them. Simply, I am saying they have money but we have quality and talent,” he continued
“If Simba or Yanga come to Kenya, they will have a hard time playing against Gor Mahia or AFC Leopards.
“There is no way one can compare our league with such other ones in terms of quality.”
Amid the final struggles in Kenyan football, there has been a recent migration of Kenyan stars to either to Tanzania or Zambia in search of greener pastures.
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