Dar to host 2019 Cecafa Women’s Challenge Cup

Cecafa secretary general Nicholas Musonye stresses a point during a past press conference. PHOTO| FILE

What you need to know:

  • Tanzania will host Cecafa Women’s Championship in December while Kagame Club Championship will take place in Rwanda in July

Dar es Salaam. The 2019 Cecafa Kagame Cup will be staged in Rwanda in July, the Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations has announced.

It will be the fifth time Rwanda – the land of many hills –will be playing host to one of the oldest regional club tournaments in Africa.

The decision was reached during a meeting of the regional soccer governing body’s executive committee in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Monday.

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The Cecafa Kagame Cup is a football club tournament organised by Cecafa – the regional football governing body for East and Central Africa.

It has been known as the Cecafa Kagame Cup since 2002, when Rwandan President Paul Kagame began sponsoring the competition.

Kagame, a staunch supporter of football pumps $60,000 (approximately Sh139 million) as cash prize and $15,000 for promotional materials annually into the tournament, a contribution which has kept it going despite many challenges it faces.

Besides the Cecafa Kagame Cup due in Rwanda, Tanzania, who are the reigning Cecafa Women’s Challenge Cup champions, will host the 2019 edition in November.

Kenya will host the inaugural Cecafa Women’s U-20 tournament while Uganda will host both the Boy’s U-20 Championship in September and Men’s Challenge Cup in December.

Under the Fifa Forward 2.0, regional sub confederations must organise at least two age group competitions for both men and women in order to be eligible to receive funding worth $ 1 million every year.

Member associations must also organise a minimum of four matches in two age categories for both boys and girls to be eligible for fully operational funding.

So, this coupled with Senior Men and Women tournaments, brings the number to seven championships.

Rwanda last staged the Cecafa Kagame Cup in 2014 with the home side APR FC losing to Sudan’s El Merreikh 1-0 in the final in Kigali.

“We will have a busy 2019 with seven championships,” said Cecafa secretary general Nicholas Musonye.

Tanzania Mainland hosted the tournament last year. Azam FC claimed the title with a 2-1 win against Simba in an all-Tanzanian final.

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