Players at top Kenyan club stage boycott

Kenya fans

Friday Oct 04, 2019. 13:00

The players from top Kenyan side AFC Leopards have boycotted training after not being paid their salary for the last two months.

There were no players to be seen on the training pitch on Thursday ahead of their league game against Sony Sugar on Saturday and club chairman Dan Shikanda has admitted the team are in deep financial peril.

“We shall pay our players but we still don’t have money. The situation has been tough because we don’t have sponsor and it is unfortunate some of them didn’t show up for training,” Shikanda told Nation Sport.

Leopards have been a victim of the fall-out from the exit of betting company SportPesa from Kenya after the club signed a Sh156.4-million three-year deal in April 2018.

SportPesa had been a massive sponsor of the local league and clubs, and another giant, Gor Mahia, has also failed to pay their players for the last two months.

Nation Sport reports that the monthly wage bill at Leopards is Sh4.5-million.