December 5 – East Africa’s flagship competition the Cecafa Cup will kick off with a depleted participants field after South Sudan, DR Congo and Ethiopia all withdrew from the competition.
South Sudan and guests Dr Congo, who traditionally don’t participate in the tournament for East African teams, were the latest two countries to cancel their participation in the finals. On Tuesday, the Ethiopia Football Federation had already decided that they would not play in the Cecafa Cup.
The setback has reduced the 12-team tournament to a competition with just nine teams. Last year’s Cecafa Cup had to be cancelled as no host could be found for the tournament. Kenya had been due to stage the Cecafa Cup as defending champions, but desisted over the financial challenges that hosting the competition presented.
This time Uganda has stepped forward and the matches will be hosted at small venues in the southern cities of Njeru and Jina. The groups have been tweaked to reflect the new outlook of the tournament. The top two teams will advance to the last four.
Group A: Uganda, Burundi, Eritrea, Somalia, Djibouti
Group B: Tanzania, Sudan, Kenya, Zanzibar
Contact the writer of this story, Samindra Kunti, at moc.l1734951399labto1734951399ofdlr1734951399owedi1734951399sni@o1734951399fni1734951399