NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 23 – Football Kenya Federation (FKF) has made the top three shortlist for the 2018 Safaricom Sports Personality of the Year Awards (SOYA) scheduled for January 11 in Mombasa County.
The gala awards on its 15th edition which has been co-sponsored by Mombasa County, National Social Security Fund (NSSF), Communication Authority (CA), Kenya Pipeline, Kenya Power, LapFund, New KCC, Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), GOTv and Protel Studios, will be hosted at Fort Jesus.
FKF will battle it out with Athletics Kenya and Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association (KSSSA).
To land the nomination, FKF under its stewardship saw Harambee Stars qualify for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations for the first time since 2004 in matches that saw the Kenya national football team beat Ghana 1-0 at home, thrash Ethiopia 3-0 in Nairobi after a 0-0 draw away in Bahir Dar.
The federation has also been able to train 108 referees from January to date and six of the whistle blowers attained Confederation of African Football (CAF) status.
FKF also trained 1,328 coaches countrywide at basic and advanced level.
This year the federation also for the first time ever, issued grants to Women Premier League teams to help honour their league matches and ran under 13 and under 15 youth leagues that brought together about 25,000 kids countrywide.
The national under 17 team reached semi-finals of the Council of East and Central Africa Football Association Cecafa and the national women’s football team Harambee Starlets reached Cosafa semi-finals in Zimbabwe.
-KSSSA-
KSSSA led the country’s successful title defence campaign that saw Kenyan teams dominate the regional games in Rwanda where they retained the overall title.
They also ensured Kenya joined the Africa Secondary Schools Sports Association body and also the World Secondary Schools Sports Association, guaranteeing participation in international events starting 2019.
KSSSA also renewed a five-year sponsorship deal for the national Term One Games and East Africa Games with key partner Brookside Dairy Limited.
-Athletics Kenya (AK)-
Athletics Kenya (AK) started 2018 by dominating the Africa Cross Country
Championships in Algeria, winning gold in both senior men and women races as well as the under 20 events and the overall title.
In June, AK picked a strong side ta topped the medal table at the World Under-20 Championships in Tampere, Finalnd and a month later they put up a successful bid to win the hosting rights of the 2020 World Under 20 Athletics Championships.
In August, team Kenya won the Africa Athletics Championships title in Asaba, Nigeria.
