Harambee Stars players celebrate after winning the CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup. PHOTO/Timothy Olobulu
NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 13 – The Council of East and Central African Football Associations (CECAFA) has called off this year’s edition of the Senior Challenge Cup owing to time constraints in getting a new host as well as the calendar change currently being undertaken by CAF.
The tournament has initially been set for the end of this month spilling to the first week of December, but after the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) pulled out of hosting it due to financial constraints, CECAFA was thrown into the deep end.
Kenya hosted and won the tournament last year, spreading it across Machakos, Kisumu and Kakamega.
“It was difficult convincing a new host within that period,” CECAFA Secretary General Nicholas Musonye told Capital Sport.
The tournament has now been pushed to July, after the completion of the current seasons all over the region. The Seniors tournament will be preceded by the CECAFA Kagame Cup in June.
CECAFA Secretary General Nicholas Musonye addressing the media on the 2017 CECAFA Seniour Challenge Cup/ Photo/RAYMOND MAKHAYA
“The other challenge was with the date because now, all the leagues in the region are starting and it would have been difficult to get them to stop so that we can have the national team play,”
“The Governing Council also having consulted with sponsors made this decision to push it to July because then, the leagues will have ended. It is the position we will take moving forward,” further stated Musonye.
The Kagame Cup will either be held in Tanzania or Rwanda while the Senior Challenge is yet to get a host city.
Meanwhile Musonye has confirmed that CECAFA will organize an Under-20 tournament which will be held in Uganda in December while they will receive a Sh100mn (1mn USD) every year from FIFA for women and youth football.
“That was passed by FIFA and moving forward our women and youth tournaments will all be catered for. The only thing which we will be sponsoring on our own is the Senior Challenge and Kagame Cup,” Musonye added.
