Senior Challenge Cup back as Cecafa braces for heightened activities
Burundi's Pierre Kwizera (left) vies for the ball with Harambee Stars forward Vincent Oburu during their Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup semi-final match at Moi Stadium in Kisumu on December 14, 2017.
What you need to know:
- Museveni alongside Tanzanian Pay-TV station Azam Sports will sponsor this year's Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup that will be held for the first time in five years
- Gecheo said Suluhu had shown interest in supporting the Cecafa Women Championship
- Besides the Senior Challenge Cup, five other regional tournaments have been planned for this year
President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Samia Suluhu of Tanzania have undertaken to support the activities of the Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations activities this year as the prestigious Senior Challenge Cup returns.
This was revealed by Cecafa Executive Director Auka Gecheo in an exclusive interview with Nation Sport in Nairobi on Wednesday.
The Ugandan head of state alongside Tanzanian Pay-TV station Azam Sports will sponsor this year's Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup that will be held for the first time in five years, following discussions held during Confederation of African Football president Patrice Motsepe’s visit to Kampala in 2022. The tournament will be hosted by Zanzibar.
Gecheo said Suluhu had shown interest in supporting the Cecafa Women Championship.
The Cecafa Club championships has been titled Paul Kagame Cup for may years thanks to the financial assistance of the Rwandan president.
Cecafa has however struggled to stage regional tournaments in recent times mainly owing to muted interest from the 12-member nations and lack of funding.
“When you glance at our calendar of events in the next three or four years, there’s every reason for football fans in the region to be excited,” said Gecheo.
“Support from the top leaders in the region is key and we have separately engaged two marketing companies to source for additional partners.”
This year's Senior Challenge Cup will be staged between July 6 and 21. The tourney was last held in 2019 in Uganda. An Under-23 version was held in Ethiopia in 2021.
A Cecafa team is expected in Zanzibar later this month to inspect the Amani Stadium, the refurbished Sheikh Abeid Karume Stadium, and Pemba Stadium which are earmarked as venues for the regional football showpiece.
Nation Sport understands DR Congo’s Les Leopards, have expressed interest in participating in this year's tournament as a guest team.
According to Cecafa Communications Manager Andrew Oryada, organising the Senior Challenge Cup requires about $550,000 (about Sh72.1 million). Oryada said all visiting team are required to contribute $20,000 (Sh2.6 million) to the tournament.
Besides the Senior Challenge Cup, five other regional tournaments have been planned for this year.
They include the Africa Cup of Nations Under-17 Zonal qualifiers in Uganda in December and the Africa Cup of Nations Under-20 qualifiers in Tanzania in October.
Zanzibar will also host the Africa Schools Football Championship Zonal boys' and girls’ qualifiers in December, while the Under-20 Girls Championship will be held in Ethiopia in June.
“Age group competitions are key to the development of talent in the region,” said Gecheo.
He said they will fight hard to eradicate the scourge of age cheating.
“We have had some challenges with age-cheating at junior tournaments and always try to offer solutions,” he admitted.
“In instances where a player has a passport indicating his age, however many suggest otherwise, it is hard to argue otherwise. In most instances, we employ the MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) to determine the age of the players. Bottom line, my appeal to the relevant authorities is to help us have a clean competition.”
