Why Tusker opted out of SportPesa Shield

For the first in the club's 50 years of existence, Tusker FC will not take part in this year’s domestic cup competition.

The brewers, who have won the cup four times, will not participate in the 2018/19 SportPesa Shield as they aim to "concentrate their efforts on the SportPesa Premier League title charge."

“It was not an easy decision to make but we want to help the team concentrate on the league. We have a target of winning the title and we want to focus on that,” chairman Daniel Aduda is quoted as saying by the club website.

This means that should the club fail to win the league, they have no any other avenue of qualifying for the lucrative Caf interclub competitions. The winner of the SportPesa Shield will represent the country in the 2019/20 Caf Confederation Cup.

However, Nation Sport has established other than their intention to focus on reclaiming the league title they last won in 2016, the brewers have been struggling financially over the past two seasons owing of lack of grants from the league body. This could have played a major part in their decision to withdraw from the annual competition whose winner walks home with Sh2 million.

Tusker are currently fifth in the standings on 25 points after 15 matches - seven points adrift leaders Bandari.

The Robert Matano-coached outfit, who have lost their last three matches in the league, take on struggling AFC Leopards on Saturday at Kenyatta Stadium, Machakos.