KENYA HALTS RIVAL LEAGUES !

Kenya's government has called for the country's two rival football leagues to be halted after being ordered by Fifa to sort out chaos in the sport. "We order a stop to the two parallel leagues," Joshua Okuthe, head of the Kenya National Sports Council, said on Saturday. "Running rival leagues is not only counter-productive but an embarrassment to the government and the people of Kenya."

Kenya's top football clubs have split into two factions with nine of them taking part in a league started last week by the Kenya Premier League (KPL). The remaining 11 joined a league sanctioned by the country's football federation (KFF), which had been due to start on Saturday. Fifa president Sepp Blatter has given Kenya until 18 October to sort out the mess or face sanctions.

In a strongly-worded letter on Thursday, Blatter ordered the KFF to explain in writing steps it had taken to implement 28 points agreed upon in January, which included setting up an independent company to run the league. Fifa recognises KPL Limited, which was mandated to run the Premier League in the January agreement at a meeting in Cairo between Fifa, the KFF and Caf. However, Okuthe said: "We recognise KFF PL as legally mandated to run the Premier League on behalf of the federation and not KPL." He said no matches would take place until officials from the two leagues had met to decide which teams would play in the KFF PL League. Despite the call by Okuthe, matches from both leagues were played on Saturday.

Last October, Kenya was threatened with suspension from all soccer activity at Fifa's annual congress in Marrakesh because of government interference in running the sport.

BBC SPORTS REPORT.