The Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) Senior Challenge Cup will not be held this year.
In a statement issued on Monday evening, Cecafa also announced that the U20 tournament will not be held. No reason was given for the cancellations of the two competitions.
Kenya was supposed to host the Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup as a dry run for the Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) tournament on April 24, according to the Sports Principal Secretary, Elijah Mwangi.
The PS announced this when he appeared before the Regional Integration Committee led by nominated MP Irene Mayaka.
The 2024 CHAN is supposed to take place in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania from August 2 to 30. At the same time, the Cecafa Women’s Senior Championship will take place from June 12- 22 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Cecafa competitions director, Yusuf Mossi, said it was decided that the competition would take place before the Total Energies CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) next month. The 2025 WAFCON will be held in Rabat, Morocco.
“The competition with help our representatives to the WAFCON Tanzania prepare better and the other teams also prepare for the WAFCON 2026 qualifiers, which resume in October this year,” Mossi remarked.
He noted that already, hosts Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, and South Sudan have confirmed participation. Mossi further added that more teams are expected to confirm in the next few days.
After the Women’s Senior Championship, the inaugural Cecafa Beach Soccer Championship will take place July 7-12 in Mombasa, Kenya. The event was initially slated for June 6-11.
The teams that have already confirmed participation include Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zanzibar, Burundi and guest sides Malawi and Seychelles.
The other competitions that Cecafa will organise in 2025 include: the CAF Women’s Club Champions League CECAFA qualifiers (Tanzania), Dar Port Kagame Cup (Tanzania), AFCON U-17 Cecafa qualifiers (Ethiopia) and the CAF African Schools football Championship CECAFA qualifiers.
