FKF working to reduce number of teams in the topflight league

There is a proposal being tabled before the Football Kenya Federation to revert the Kenyan Premier League to sixteen teams, starting from the 2026/27 season, implying that four teams will be relegated from the top-flight league at the end of the 2025/26 season.

For subsequent seasons, three teams would be relegated to the second tier.

The proposal would also split the National Super League into two zones next season, consisting of 24 teams, with a dozen teams in each zone. It will also be renamed the Kenyan Super League.

At the end of the season 2025/26, the two zonal champions would gain automatic promotion to the Premier League, with the three last teams from each zone being relegated to the third tier.

For subsequent seasons, the league shall not comprise more than 28 teams divided into two zones. Teams in second and third place would play in a home-and-away playoff to determine who would ascend to the pinnacle of Kenyan league football.

The third tier would be renamed the FKF Conference League and would feature 64 teams divided into four zones, namely the Eastern, Southern, Western, and Northern zones.

From the 2025/26 season onwards, the four zonal champions would automatically ascend to the Super League, with the teams placed in second place from each zone playing in a home and away format playoff to determine who would make it to the second tier.

Three teams from each zone will be relegated to the fourth tier.

The fourth-tier league shall be named the FKF regional league. The league would be divided into nine regional zones of the FKF, namely Central, Coast, Eastern, Nairobi, Lower Rift Valley, Upper Rift Valley, Nyanza, and Western regions.

Each region would consist of not more than 48 teams, with 16 teams per zone. The winner of each zone would gain automatic promotion to the third tier, with the bottom four being relegated to the FKF county league.

The league’s fifth tier shall be referred to as the FKF county league as per the proposal.

Each county league shall comprise not more than 64 teams divided into zones comprising not more than 16 teams per zone. At the end of each season, the top team in each county shall gain promotion to the regional league.

The bottom four at the end of the season will be relegated to the bottom-tier league, the FKF sub-county league.

The sixth tier will be the lowest league. The league shall be played in the respective 290 FKF sub-county branches as stipulated in the FKF constitution.