Kenya/Sudan: Club Cup Moved to Sudan Capital

Nairobi Star (Nairobi)

Muigai Kiguru

13 April 2011

The 2011 Council of East and Central Africa Football Association (CECAFA)/Kagame Club Cup has been rescheduled for Sudan after earlier hosts Zanzibar failed to meet the required obligations.

While making the announcement yesterday, Cecafa secretary general Nicholas Musonye said the decision was arrived at last week in a meeting held between the council and the sponsors-Sudan Football Federation and El Mereikh Group-in Sudan.

Musonye also revealed that this year’s competition has attracted a record 16 teams with three guest teams drawn from Egypt, Ghana and Zambia. Rwanda will bring two teams by virtue of being defending champions with hosts Sudan also given two slots while the rest of the members will provide a team each. “The sponsor has also agreed top up the prize money from USD60,000 to USD 100,000 (Sh8.4 million) which will be shared among the podium finishers,” said Musonye.

He urged teams to prepare well and hit out at the local team for their poor show in recent Cecafa outings. “We shall not allow teams to just come at the competition as holiday makers,” said Musonye. “Teams should know that this is a top competition where high level of football is expected. We shall act strictly on teams that we feel do not take the competition seriously come next year.” He added that the delegation to the event has also been increased from 25 to 27 in a move that is expected to benefit more players through exposure.

On the recently released national football election guidelines, the Cecafa boss said he is yet to read them but will be making his statement as soon as he does. This, he said will include whether he harbours any ambitions of vying for the top seat now or in the future. “All I would like to do is to urge Kenyans to vote wisely and not make the mistake that we have made in the last 20 years,” he said. “Kenya is a big country and we should not entertain mediocrity in our football. This is a big industry and we should learn how to refrain from politicising it now and in the future. We need individuals who have football at heart and who have football history.” “A successful election will give us the green light to host Cecafa Under-17 tournament here in Nairobi since we don’t want to host it in a sea of confusion,” he added.

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