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Football Kenya Federation (FKF) presidential aspirant Taufiq Balala plans to use regions in the country to build a strong FKF Premier League with at least a mass following of six to seven teams in the top-flight.

Speaking for the first time after confirming his intentions to run for the top post, the Mombasa-based businessman admitted that the Kenyan league was lagging behind because the current FKF regime had neglected to take football to the regions where there is a huge following.

“At the moment we only have Gor Mahia, AFC Leopards, and Shabana as the teams with a huge following in the local league, but this can improve if we take our football to the regions, we don’t need to play six matches a week in Nairobi and neglect those in the region,”  Balala told People Sports in a telephone interview.

“For example, in Europe, most teams go by their region and that is why they have a huge following, Liverpool comes from Liverpool, Manchester United comes from the City of Manchester, and in Germany, we have teams like Bayern Munich, who are from Munich and many more, it is something that we can introduce in Kenyan football and it will go a long way to boost the game in terms of numbers.”

On what he plans to do to bring in sponsorship, Balala said: “Our league is currently unmarketable, you cannot market our league because of its poor standards, first of all, we will need to put proper structures in place and thereafter when the league becomes marketable, the sponsors will start to come in,” adding: “I don’t have to advertise my product using a billboard in the bush but will need to advertise my product in the town for visibility and quick sale so when the product is good for the market you can start thinking of how to bring in partners.”

Balala, however, refused to blame the current regime for the mess that is currently bedeviling the sport in the country and instead said Kenyan football died 30 years ago and can only be resurrected with a total overhaul and fresh start.

“The mess we have in Kenyan football is not because of Nick (Mwendwa) or the past three regimes, the mess we find ourselves in started way back 30 years ago, and the only problem we have is that whoever has been in charge of the federation has failed to clean the mess by starting a fresh,” said Balala, adding: “Kenyan football needs a fresh start, it needs a total overhaul, we need to change our management style and bring in fresh ideas, even if it means starting the process from scratch the better, we should not be available to start again, because that will be the only way to bring our football back to where we need to be.”

Apart from Balala, others who have shown keen interest in the top seat for polls set for February 2024, include former FKF President Sam Nyamweya, former player Sammy ‘Kempes’ Onyango, former NEC member Tom Alila, Extreme Sports CEO Hussein Mohammed, Bandari official Twaha Mbarak, ex-CECAFA boss Nicholas Musonye, and Gor Mahia CEO Sam Ocholla.