Ten countries set for CAF-Cecafa tourney

Dar es Salaam. Ten countries will feature in the African Youth Championships qualifying tournament for the East and Central African Football Association (Cecafa zone) scheduled to be held in the country in August.

The zonal tournament has been organised by African Football governing body (CAF) purposely to select one team that will join Tanzania in next year’s African Youths Championships to be held in the country.

National U-17 soccer team, Serengeti Boys, will feature in the tournament, which is supported by European football governing body (UEFA).

Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) President Wallace Karia named other participating countries as Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Sudan, Ethiopia and Rwanda. The dates of the tournament would be named later.

Others are South Sudan, Somalia and Djibouti will feature in the qualifying event. Karia said that earlier, Caf and Cecafa planned the tournament would feature eight teams where by South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea and Djibouti were supposed to compete in the preliminary event to pick only one team to join others.

He explained that after Eritrea’s decided to pull out CAF, CECAFA and UEFA agreed to add three countries to the tournament to bring the total to ten.

They will compete for top honours ahead of the 2019 African Youth final to be held in the country.

He explained that being the host, Tanzania will use the tournament as part of preparations and if it won top honurs, the Runners Up would be handed the ticket.

According to Karia, the new system was established with the aim of ensuring the Cecafa zone and others had equal representation in the finals, which are normally dominated by Southern, Western and Northern African countries.

“This is a very important tournament for Serengeti Boys ahead of next year’s African Youth finals. We will gauge the players’ strength as well as talent in the tournament scheduled to take place at the National Stadium, Uhuru Stadium and Azam Complex,” he said.

He said there were plans to reconstruct Uhuru Stadium in to be able to host the tournament.Dar es Salaam. Ten countries will feature in the African Youth Championships qualifying tournament for the East and Central African Football Association (Cecafa zone) scheduled to be held in the country in August.

The zonal tournament has been organised by African Football governing body (CAF) purposely to select one team that will join Tanzania in next year’s African Youths Championships to be held in the country.

National U-17 soccer team, Serengeti Boys, will feature in the tournament, which is supported by European football governing body (UEFA).

Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) President Wallace Karia named other participating countries as Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Sudan, Ethiopia and Rwanda. The dates of the tournament would be named later.

Others are South Sudan, Somalia and Djibouti will feature in the qualifying event. Karia said that earlier, Caf and Cecafa planned the tournament would feature eight teams where by South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea and Djibouti were supposed to compete in the preliminary event to pick only one team to join others.

He explained that after Eritrea’s decided to pull out CAF, CECAFA and UEFA agreed to add three countries to the tournament to bring the total to ten.

They will compete for top honours ahead of the 2019 African Youth final to be held in the country.

He explained that being the host, Tanzania will use the tournament as part of preparations and if it won top honurs, the Runners Up would be handed the ticket.

According to Karia, the new system was established with the aim of ensuring the Cecafa zone and others had equal representation in the finals, which are normally dominated by Southern, Western and Northern African countries.

“This is a very important tournament for Serengeti Boys ahead of next year’s African Youth finals. We will gauge the players’ strength as well as talent in the tournament scheduled to take place at the National Stadium, Uhuru Stadium and Azam Complex,” he said.

He said there were plans to reconstruct Uhuru Stadium in to be able to host the tournament.