Vihiga Queens savour fourth WPL title

Vihiga Queens once again exerted their dominance in the local scene after bagging their fourth Football Kenya Federation Women Premier League title on Sunday.

The Cecafa Women regional champions scooped the league in style after going unbeaten the whole season and were awarded Sh1 million prize.

They beat their neighbours Bunyore Starlets 2-0 at Mumboha Stadium in their last clash of the season on Sunday.

Vihiga Queens garnered 60 points from a maximum 66 and had only three draws in the just ended season.

The draws came against Ulinzi Starlets, Gatundu Sports Women (Gaspo) and Wadadia in the second leg of the season.

Vihiga Queens had a 17-point gap against their closest challengers Ulinzi Starlets.

Vihiga coach Boniface Nyamunyamu won the Coach of the Year Award, forward Topister Situma scooped the Golden Boot after scoring 17 goals, custodian Diana Tembesi emerged the Best Goalkeeper after managing 16 clean sheets.

The FKF Transition Committee is however expected to hand the individual winners their prize this week before exiting on June 16.

Nyamunyamu thanked his players for dethroning Thika Queens, saying it was because of hardwork, discipline and focus.

"The Women'sLeague has a lot of competition even more than KPL but it doesn't get a lot of focus. My players did well since winning the league unbeaten is not easy with the meagre resources we had. It was a good season and one of the best we have ever hard and we hope sponsorship can be sourced for WPL just like KPL," said Nyamunyamu.

Despite losing key players like forwards Jentrix Shikangwa and Terry Engesha together with custodian Lillian Awuor in the mid-season, coach Nyamunyamu said the remaining players fit well in their positions hence their absence was not felt.

Shikangwa joined Turkish side Fatih Karagumruk SK, while Engesha moved to South Korea top-tier side Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels.

Awuor currently plies her trade with ASJ Soyaux-Charente (Association Sportive Jeunesse de Soyaux Charente) commonly known as Soyaux Women Football Club which she joined in January.

"The trio were key players to us and are doing well in their new clubs. When they left at some point we struggled to win matches but later Situma and others in the team did well and started scoring goals for us. The success we had was because of team work," added Nyamunyamu.

The youthful tactician is optimistic that the current Fifa suspension will be lifted and the team will represent the country again in the Cecafa Women Regional Champions so that they can get a chance to to represent the region in the Caf Women Champions League as they did last season.

As Vihiga Queens are basking in glory of fourth WPL title, their 2-0 triumph over neighbours Bunyore Starlets on Sunday saw the latter relegated.

Others relegated were newbies Kangemi Ladies and Kayole Starlets.