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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