Ronald NamaiWashington Okeyo2026-02-112020-11https://repository.mua.ac.ke/handle/123456789/1255The challenges of coping with the current uncertainties in sports management has put many football clubs and on the edge. To survive depends on the leadership provided by the managers and football administrators who have the mandate and expected to drive and achieve organizational objectives as well as motivate staff in order to achieve desired results. The objective of this study was to establish the relationship between leadership styles and performance of Kenyan Premier League football clubs. This study will thus make special contribution to the existing knowledge, address and provide the background information to research organizations and individual researchers who will use it as basis for conducting research in the same area. The study adopted institutional theory, theory of planned behavior and goal setting theory. The research design adopted was a descriptive research design that is cross sectional in nature. The study target population was 66 comprising staff of Football Kenya Federation; Coaches of Kenyan Premier League clubs, CEOs of Kenyan Premier League clubs as well as team captains (players) of the clubs. During data collection, a total of 54 respondents were sampled, among them 9 staff at Football Kenya Federation, 17 coaches of Kenyan Premier League clubs, 11 CEOs of clubs and 17 team captains. Questionnaires were used for data collection among the population. A pilot study was conducted to test the accuracy of the instruments to ensure that the data was reliable and valid. The data was later analyzed by use of SPSS and inferential statistics and presented using tables and figures. Descriptive statistics including mean and standard deviation was adopted in the analysis. The data was first coded and organized into concepts from which generalization was made of the entire population. The relationship between the variables was determined using regression model of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. The research findings indicate that leadership style explains 45% of the performance of Kenyan Premier League clubs. According to the study findings, transformational leadership to a large extent impacted the performance of clubs more than any other style (mean of 4.3 out of 5). The study therefore concluded that leadership style is critical ingredient in the performance of premier league clubs in Kenya and primarily determines the success of teams.Article