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Tuesday, November 11, 2014

The Kenya Premier League 2014 Season in Numbers


1 –          Although they were the second highest scorers in the league behind Sofapaka, champions Gor Mahia had only one name, Danny Sserunkuma, in the league’s top 10 goal scorers. The Ugandan was also the only non-Kenyan in the top 10 list. Sofapaka took four slots, Thika United, Tusker and Sony Sugar had two each while Muhoroni Youth and Ulinzi Stars had one apiece.

2 –          This was only Gor Mahia’s second Premier League title after the revamping of the topflight division in 2003.

3 –          Nakuru All Stars managed only three wins all season long as they got relegated back to the National Super League as early as last month. They shocked Gor Mahia 2-0 in Nakuru where they also slaughtered KRA 1-0  while replicating a similar score line win at Thika United. City Stars won one more game than the Top Fry-sponsored team while Bandari registered 5 wins.

3 –          Ulinzi lost only 3 games all season. They were beaten 1-2 away to Tusker FC in March with Gor Mahia beating them with the same scoreline at Afraha Stadium. Their only other loss was a 1-0 capitulation at the hands of KCB at Nyayo Stadium in September, John Macharia with the solitary goal. Champions Gor Mahia lost four games while Sofapaka and Tusker lost five times each.

4 –          Based on positions from last season, Ulinzi Stars and Chemelil Sugar made the highest leap with both teams moving up four places to finish fourth and fifth respectively having finished 8th and 9th last season. KCB made the biggest drop falling from position four last season to 14 this season followed by Bandari who finished 13th this season having finished 6th in 2013.

5  –         Only five clubs assumed at least the bottom two positions at some point in the season. AFC Leopards were second from bottom on matchday four, Muhoroni Youth were bottom after the first two matchdays, KCB were in the bottom two between matchday five and 22, City Stars during the last 7 matchdays of the season while Nakuru All Stars were rooted to the bottom two from start to finish.

5 –          Number of goals scored in the highest scoring matches on the final day. AFC Leopards beat Bandari 3-2 in Mombasa while KCB had a similar margin win over relegated Nakuru All Stars at Nyayo Stadium in Nairobi.

6 –          The longest winning streak in the league which was recorded by Gor Mahia. Having failed to win in four consecutive matches which culminated in a 1-2 loss away to Bandari, K’Ogalo went on a 6-game winning splash with KCB, Ulinzi, Muhoroni Youth, Sony Sugar, Sofapaka and Chemelil all falling by the way side before AFC Leopards grind the record champions' run to a halt with a 3-1 derby win.

6 –          Only six teams managed to assume the number one position during the season. Besides Gor Mahia who featured on 16 matchdays, Tusker had the second highest number featuring 8 times, Sony Sugar featured twice while Sofapaka, Chemelil and Western Stima all featured once.

7 -           Gor Mahia registered 7 more wins than their archrivals AFC Leopards this season having won only three more games the season before. 

8 -           There were two new entrants to the coveted Top 8 bracket with Muhoroni Youth and Chemelil Sugar replacing KCB and Bandari who dropped out.

9 –          Nine teams in the KPL 2014 season finished with a – (negative) goal difference. Nakuru All Stars led the log on -25 followed by KRA on -18, Nairobi City Stars had -17, KCB had -9 while Western Stima finishes in the top five with -7. Only 7 teams finished on negative goal difference in 2013 and 5 in 2012.

10 –        KRA finished with the longest losing streak in the league. Having started the season strongly with victories against the likes of AFC Leopards, Thika United and two-leg wins over Nairobi City Stars, Ken Kenyatta’s side lost all their season ending 10 games conceding 22 goals and scoring only six.

11 –        This was the 11th season of the Kenya Premier League since it began in 2003 and the 51st season of top division football in Kenya since 1963.

12 –        Chemelil Sugar and Ulinzi had the joint longest unbeaten run in the league. In a season that saw Chemelil assume the top position on matchday 5, the sugar millers’ rearguard was impregnable for the first 12 matches of the season. Eventual champions, Gor Mahia brought that run to a debilitating end on May 22nd with Rama Salim heading the only goal of the match in a 1-0 win for the then Bobby Williamson managed side. Ulinzi went unbeaten for 12 matches between 23rd April and August 13th while Sofapaka who after losing 2-0 against Thika United in August 6th finished the rest of the season with a 10-game unbeaten run.

13 –        Nakuru All Stars scored the least number of goals during the season at 13 followed by City Stars who could only find the back of the net 18 times.

14 –        Gor Mahia’s triumph is the 14th time they have won the league, a new record. It is also the first time they have won the league back-to-back since the 90s where they won it three times on the trot, 1983, 84 and 85. AFC Leopards who last won the title in 1998 are now one behind in 13, three ahead of Tusker in 10.

15 –        The joint high number of draws recorded in the competition this season with Ulinzi Stars and Bandari sharing that number

16 –        Gor Mahia’s Danny Sserunkuma claimed the golden boot award after emerging topscorer with 16 goals. The Ugandan however scored one goal less than the 17 last season's golden boot winner, Jacob Kelli, scored for KCB. Gor Mahia’s Maurice Ochieng remains the league’s all-time top scorer in a single season having bagged 26 goals during the 1976 season.

16 –        Chemelil Sugar had the tightest defence conceding only 16 goals, 4 less than Ulinzi who allowed 20 while champions Gor Mahia and Sony Sugar finished third and fourth respectively with their defences sliced open on 21 occasions.

17 –        Champions Gor Mahia won the league having secured 17 wins, one ahead of runners-up Sofapaka. In fact, the last four KPL titles have been won by a team that registers 17 wins save for Gor who in spite of achieving that, they failed to beat Tusker to the 2012 title having lost a game more. Nakuru All Stars got relegated having accumulated only 17 points, the least of any team in recent memory.

20 –        The total number of goals that were scored on the final day of the season

40 –        Beaten 3-0 by Gor Mahia in the final game of the season, KRA alias Ushuru FC had the leakiest defence soaking in 40 goals while scoring only 22 as they finished with the second worst goal difference.

43 –        Champions Gor Mahia scored 43 goals on their way to retaining their KPL title. This is the second most goals scored by a league champion since 2008 when Mathare netted 47 times to win the trophy. Last season, Gor scored only 32 goals

49 –        Sofapaka were the highest scorers in the league with 49 goals, Enock Agwanda scoring 11 of those, followed by defender Ekaliana Ndolo who scored 9 while Fiston Razak and veteran marksman John Baraza both netted on 7 occasions.

60 –        Gor Mahia won the league after amassing 60 points out of a possible 90. They continued with the trend of the previous three seasons where 60 has been the magic number for winning the league. Gor won the title last season on 60 and so did Tusker the year before. The previous three had been won on 58, and twice on 59 by Tusker, Ulinzi Stars and Sofapaka in 2011, 2010 and 2009 respectively. Mathare’s 63-point triumph in 2008 remains the yardstick over the past five years.

104 –     The total number of days that KPL matches were played. Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday were the most popular while five matches were played on a Thursday and only once on a Monday when Bandari lost 0-1 to Chemelil in Mombasa. No match was played on a Tuesday.

238 –     The total number of matches played. There still remains an impasse over the Tusker versus Muhoroni Youth and Sony Sugar versus AFC Leopards matches which haven’t been played for various reasons. If they get played, the total will rise to the usual 16-team number of 240. If Football Kenya Federation pushes on with the idea of raising the number of teams in the topflight to 18, that would push the number to 288.

451 -      the total number of goals scored all season at a ratio of 1.89 goals per game. This is an improvement on the 432 scored last season but 7 goals less than the 458 scored in the 2012 season. The 2011 season saw 488 goals scored which remains the highest for at least the last five years.

500,000 –     Half a million shillings seems to be Football Kenya Federation’s benchmark fine for crowd trouble. AFC Leopards were slapped with Kshs. 500,000 fine for fan trouble in their 2-0 loss against Thika United while Gor Mahia had to fork out the same amount after their fans went berserk in Machakos against Sofapaka who were fined Kshs. 300,000 for failing to provide adequate security.


10,000,000 –       The amount Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua want Gor Mahia to pay as compensation for damage caused to public and private property when Frank Nuttal's side lost a potentially title-deciding match 2-3 against Sofapaka.

And That's thesteifmastertake!!

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