Match fixing in Kenyan football has emerged as a significant threat to the integrity of the sport, with reports suggesting it is rampant within the Kenyan Premier League, the lower leagues, and sometimes involves the National team. [1]
Kenya's top league has faced persistent integrity challenges, with match manipulation emerging as a significant concern since the 2010s. Factors said to be contributing to the problem include: Financial instability among clubs and players, weak enforcement mechanisms, growth of global sports betting markets, and limited legal frameworks to prosecute offenders.[2]
Away from the top league, match-fixers often target lower-tier competitions with limited coverage where players are more vulnerable due to lower salaries or financial difficulties. Individuals in key positions, such as goalkeepers and defenders, are particularly susceptible, as their actions can more easily influence match outcomes with minimal suspicion.[3]
"The vice took root in our leagues between November 2021 and October 2022 when FKF was suspended,"
"Match-fixers took advantage of the fact that there was no regulator with the expertise to detect and track what was happening." [4]
While the cases have risen from the year 2021, World governing body Fifa raised the alarm in early 2019 after demanding a full investigation into claims that several international matches played by Kenya had been fixed, including a 2010 World Cup qualifier. A Fifa report then said they had prima facie evidence based on correspondences between Kenya international George Owino and renowned match-fixer Wilson Raj Perumal, between June 2009 and March 2011, conspiring to manipulate and influence results of several international matches including a World Cup qualifier against Tunisia in October 2009 in Rades.[5] It is said that Owino had good company in the national team. [6]
Though recent exposés have highlighted the vice, it is widely believed that Kenya is only beginning to uncover a problem that has persisted for years, with many stakeholders still reluctant to speak out.[7][8]
Recent cases
Clubs
In March 2020, Sofapaka FC entered into a partnership with Living 3D Holdings, a foreign entity that facilitated the appointment of Portuguese coach Divaldo Alves and the recruitment of five foreign players, whom they paid directly. During this period, some matches involving the club were associated with suspicious betting patterns, raising concerns of possible match manipulation. The club subsequently terminated the contracts of the coach and the players.[9]
The vice in Kenya has attracted the attention of FIFA who have ordered direct action on teams that have been implicated. In 2021 FIFA's deciplinary committee scantioned premier league side Zoo FC and ordered for its relegation to the lower league after being "guilty of activities related to the manipulation of football matches and competitions". [10][11][12]
The same FIFA deciplinary committee applied a similar sentence on another Kenyan premier league side Muhoroni Youth four years later, in May 2025, having found Muhoroni Youth guilty for the exact same reasons as Zoo FC.[13][14]
Players
In Apr 2019, former kenyan interational centre back George Owino was banned by FIFA from taking part in any kind of football-related activity for a period of ten years plus a fine of CHF 15,000. He was one of nine individuals found guilty of having been involved in unlawfully influencing match results in violation of art. 69 par. 1 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code.[15][16]
In February 2020, FIFA slapped four players ex Kakamega Homeboyz players with bans after they were found guilty of match manipulation. Ugandan midfielder George Mandela was handed a life ban by while Kenyans Moses Chikati, Festus Okiring and Festo Omukoto were each slapped with four year bans. [17]
“We are receiving calls, even up to now, from Asia, from everywhere, receiving calls about fixing matches. If we weren’t strong, we would have gone into that direction, but we cannot go. We have integrity. We have our conscience, which is very clear. But if the federation doesn’t do anything about it, and maybe the government, I think we’re in trouble,” [18]
The Football Kenya Federation has over time conducted investigations and issued sanctions to a number of players though they have fallen short of fully prosecuting them. In January 2023, 14 players and two coaches from various clubs were suspended by the Federation for being associated with match fixing. Up to 12 of those were, or had been, in the ranks of Zoo FC[19]
In February 2023 two players from Mathare United were suspended for the offence by the Federation after an internal club suspension. [20]Under similar circurmstances, in Jul 2023, two Nairobi City Stars players were provisionally suspended after being reported by their club to the Federation. [21]
In March 2025, Kenyan National keeper Patrick Matasi picked up the unwanted distinction of being a poster boy of the vice after being suspended for an initial 90 days over match fixing allegations after being exposed by a leaked video. [22]
He got a temporary reprieve a month later after the High Court in Kakamega lifted sanctions on the suspension, [23] but, another five months later, his petition was struck out by the same high court effectively allowing the Federation to proceed with disciplinary action against him. [24]
Match officials
Match-fixing in the Kenya has involved referees, with several of them suspended. In Jul 2021, five referees; Raymond Onyango, Samuel Mwaura, Isaac Memusi, Collins Opiyo, and Japheth Juma, earned suspensions from the federation. [25]In 2023, four referees; Tony Kidiya, Boniface Gikonyo, Nyabera Libese and Hassan Omondi are said to have also been suspended for alleged match manipulation.
In some cases, referees were alleged to have collaborated with players or external actors to influence match outcomes. An example was in Apr 2024 where match officials; Meshack Omondi, Jacqueline Barongo and Stephen Adeya, consequently suspended, were alleged to have coluded with FC Talanta keeper Kevin Otieno, and one Abdulkarim Amele, to manipulate a Kenyan premier league game against City Stars in Machakos. [26]
Coaches
In February 2020, Ugandan coach Paul Nkata was suspended by FIFA alongside four ex Kakamega Homeboyz players after being implicated in the vice. But immediately after, he was cleared of any wrong-doing.[27]His troubles with Homeboyz started earlier, in January 2019, after his club suspended him on suspicion of the same. [28]By the close of that month he had been relieved of his duties by the club. [29]
Between February and March 2026, several Kenyan premier league coaches such as former Tusker FC coach Charles Okere,[30]Abdalla Juma of Sofapaka FC, Patrick Odhiambo of Kakamega Homeboyz and Nicholas Muyoti of Kenya Police FC all voiced their concerns over match fixing.[31]
Legal gaps
“We need to record, shame and legislate so that we can completely kill this vice,” [32]
—Patrick Korir, CEO Nairobi City Stars - Mar 2023
In March 2023, Nairobi City Stars participated in a sting operation in collaboration with media and law enforcement, leading to the arrest of three suspected match-fixers; Russian Akhiad Kubiev, Ugandan Berbard Navendi, and Kenyan Martin Munga Mutua. The individuals allegedly offered USD 14,000 to influence the outcome of a league match against Sofapaka FC, and promised to increase the bounty to between USD 30,000 and USD 40,000 in subsequent engagements.[33] Despite the arrests, the suspects were later released two months later after paying fines, highlighting the absence of specific criminal legislation. [34]
In April 2023, former FKF president Nick Mwendwa made a plea to the Kenyan parliament, while at Sports and Culture Committee hearing, to approve laws that criminalise match-fixing.[35]
In Mar 2026, the Kenyan government introduced the Sports (Amendment) Bill, 2026 sponsored by Nominated Member of Parliament Irene Mayaka aimed at criminalising match manipulation with fines and custodial sentences.[36]