Dan Shikanda believes Football Kenya Federation Premier League giants AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia can only compete with Africa's best clubs the moment they invest in infrastructural development.
Shikanda - AFC Leopards' chairperson and a former player - has claimed Kenyan football will experience a positive turning point when they own their stadiums.
Stadium ownership
Ingwe recently embarked on a process that would see them construct their own training ground in Nairobi, and Shikanda insisted physical infrastructure would help them attract potential sponsors.
"We must have a training ground and without that, we are like a car without an engine, which means we will not go far," Shikanda told Arocho Online TV.
"In my first term, it was my ambition to build a team that could win the league, but the problems we have been having over the decades are still persistent and make players not even concentrate enough.
Next Match
"I have embarked fully on finding a stadium for AFC Leopards and, God-willing, by the end of this year we will have the ground ready for construction.
"Having a stadium will be a turning point for Kenyan football because once AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia establish themselves better, they can compete with Al Ahly, South African and North African teams.
"Once we have that stadium, corporates will easily join us because that is a tangible asset and it also increases our visibility."
Shikanda also spoke about the looming relegation from the Premier League by Fifa should they not pay outstanding debt to former players and coach Casa Mbungo.
AFC Leopards.
"When SportPesa left, Ksh57 million was reduced from our budget because that is the amount they used to pay us," he added.
"We agreed with the coach [Mbungo] that we cannot keep him since we could not afford his salary, but he ended up taking us to Fifa together with two more players after resigning.
"But I can also admit that we were not proactive enough because we should have paid his outstanding debt in instalments, but again, we had fixtures and players in the team to pay and cater for.
"Was it prudent to pay a coach who left for Rwanda alongside two players, or would you pay the players in the team who are playing? We had to pay the players we had in camp with the small money we were getting so that the team could remain alive.
"By the time we thought we would recover, the coronavirus pandemic hit us and the country was locked down, putting everything at a standstill. Fans have not returned to the stadium, and corporations that we have talked to claim that they cannot get any value for now.
"They are waiting for the fans to return and that has put us in a very difficult situation."Before the current season began, AFC Leopards had lost up to 17 players and have had to largely fall back on the junior team for new players."