Can Police FC win the 2024/2025 Kenya Premier league title?

Opinion

By Peter Ochieng

The 2024/2025 Football Kenya Federation (FKF) Premier League action is at a critical stage, with anyone trying to predict the winner at this point in time, trying to count his/her chicks before they are hatched.

Only 9 points separate the top six teams, with slightly over 10 games to go before the season ends. Police FC top the league table with 41 points, 9 ahead of 6th placed Bandari FC, after 21 rounds of matches.

The ‘Boys in Blue,’ alongside the second placed side, that is Tusker FC have won the most matches – 11. The difference however comes in, in the number of matches drawn and lost between the two top teams.

Tusker and Police FC are among the best managed clubs in the country. Whereas Police FC have drawn 8, Tusker FC have drawn 6 matches.

Additionally, Police FC have only lost 2 matches while Tusker have gone down 4 times this season. The FKF PL leader’s defeats against Shabana FC and AFC Leopards came in 2024, which means the side is yet to lose a match in 2025.

What are Police FC’s prospects of winning the title this season? Last season, the team clinched the 2024 Mozzart Bet Cup title after beating KCB 8-7 in post-match penalties.

The match had ended 0-0 in regulation and extra time. This season’s target was therefore to go out full throttle for the Premier League title. At the start of the season, that target seemed difficult to achieve, because of the team’s poor form under coach Salim Babu.

Police FC management cracked the whip, sending the entire bench, led by Babu parking, just five games into the season in November 2024. Beldine Odemba, Police Bullets head coach was drafted in as Police FC’s interim manager, before former Burundi national team head coach Etienne Ndayiragije, was handed the reins.

“In the presence of our Club Chairman, Mr. Nyale Munga, coach Etienne takes the reins to lead us into an exciting chapter of ambition and growth,” the team announced.

“Renowned for his expertise and winning mind-set, coach Etienne’s appointment signals our commitment to achieving excellence both on and off the pitch.”

The coach has indeed brought a winning mentality to Police FC. He took over when the side was out of the 10 positions, and now they are leading the pack.

The terrific run has been achieved by a great turnround in form, with Police FC winning 10 and collecting 3 draws in the last 13 matches. Mixed signals have been coming from the law enforcer’s camp as far as title prospects are concerned.

Coach Ndayiragije has previously insisted that they are not interested in talks of being the favourites to win the title this season. “We don’t want to talk about the title yet. We only want to make sure we win our matches. We take it a game at a time and then we will see where we will be at the halfway stage of the season,” Ndayiragije said.

However, team manager George Maelo is pretty sure that they are on course to winning their first FKF PL title. “We are determined to win the title. We will fight until the end of the season because we believe we have what it takes to be champions. I believe in the team and every member of the squad,” he said in early February.

With the current form, I agree with Maelo’s sentiments that Police FC will win the FKF PL title this season.