Kenyan Club Expelled From Top Division Over Match Fixing Claims

Zoo FC have been expelled from the top flight of Kenyan soccer by World football governing body FIFA over match-fixing.

FIFA said it has acted after its disciplinary committee found Zoo FC club guilty of manipulation of football matches and competition.

Zoo FC owner Ken Ochieng said the club would appeal the FIFA ruling and hold a news conference on Thursday.

The Kericho-based side, currently sitting at the bottom of FKF Premier League table, will play in Kenya’s second division next season, FIFA said.

“The FIFA Disciplinary Committee finds the club Zoo FC responsible for activities related to manipulation of football matches and competitions….the club Zoo FC is hereby expulsed from the Kenyan Premier League season 2020/21 as the date of notification of the present decision,” said Fifa Disciplinary Committee in a letter signed by its chairman Alejandro Piera.

“The FIFA Disciplinary Committee hereby orders the relegation of the first team of the club Zoo FC to the FKF Division One for the next season.”

Zoo were formed in 2009 and a year later, they joined Kenyan second tier league and twice missed out on promotion to the Kenyan Premier League (KPL), both on technicalities.

In 2014, they were to be promoted only for Shabana to be awarded some points and with it, finished ahead of Zoo in the promotion battle.

But as fate would have it, there were no promotions to the KPL in 2015 following a stand off between KPL and Football Kenya Federation (FKF) over the number of teams to be promoted to the top tier league.

They finally earned a promotion to the top-division in 2017 when the league was expanded from 16 to 18 teams.