The
announcement was made in a press statement by CECAFA General Secretary,
Nicholas Musonye, after the recent CECAFA consultative meeting held in Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia during which a number of decisions were reached.
During the
same occasion, the members attended the inauguration of the Regional FIFA
Development office which will be based in Addis Ababa to cater for the
development programmes of CECAFA and the North Zone. The ceremony was
officiated by FIFA President Gianni Infantino and CAF President Ahmad.
CECAFA is among the three regions in Africa that were selected to host FIFA regional offices, the others being set-up in Dakar, Senegal and Johannesburg in South Africa. The Consultative Meeting of CECAFA members hailed FIFA for recognising the region’s football growth and setting up a development office in Addis Ababa that will further enhance the development of football in the zone. During the meeting on the sidelines of the AU summit, the members endorsed the hosting of seven competitions in the CECAFA zone this year.
The tight
programme will commence in June and run back-to-back to December. The
activities endorsed for this year and funded by FIFA are;- Under 17 Challenge
Cup in Eritrea, Under 17 Women Challenge Cup in Kenya, Under 20 Women Challenge
Cup in Uganda, Senior Women Challenge Cup in Tanzania and Under 20 men
challenge cup in Uganda.
The highly
competitive Kagame Club cup returns to Rwanda in July while the flagship CECAFA
Senior Challenge Cup will be held in Uganda in December. The members resolved
to ensure that they will contribute to a solidarity fund that will guarantee
the staging of the Senior Challenge Cup annually. Kagame Cup is sponsored by
Azam TV and CECAFA patron HE President Paul Kagame of Rwanda.
Somali
Football Federation Media Department
Email:info@somsoccer.com