TANZANIA’S Azam Television has been awarded the rights to air live the regional tournaments organized by CECAFA.
Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) Secretary General, Nicholas Musonye confirmed yesterday from Kenya that the Tanzania Pay TV station has bought rights to broadcast CECAFA flagship tournaments beginning with the forthcoming Senior Challenge Cup to kick off in Kenya from December 3 to 17 this year.
According to Musonye, CECAFA signed a threeyear sponsorship deal with Azam TV to broadcast all the Challenge Cup tournaments for men and women disciplines and the annual Kagame Cup tournaments, which involve regional clubs.
Musonye added that in bid to promote youth football in the region, the station would as well broadcast the regional Under-17 tournament, which is expected to kick off next year.
However, the CECAFA boss did not unveil the sponsorship deal package details which they said are committed to hosting fruitful tournaments, that will also help teams from member states that have qualified for the 2018 Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) to prepare better.
This year’s CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup tournament will feature ten teams, with eight from the CECAFA region and two invited teams -- Libya and Zimbabwe.
Group A comprise Tanzania Mainland’s Kilimanjaro Stars, Zanzibar, Rwanda, Libya and the host Kenya, whereas group B has the defending champions Uganda, Burundi, Ethiopia, South Sudan and guest team Zimbabwe. Winners and runnersup of each group will cruise into the semifinal stage.
According to the tournament fixture, Kilimanjaro Stars will take on Libya, while host Kenya will confront Rwanda at the Moi Stadium in Kisumu respectively on the opening day of the tournament.
Other venues for the event apart from the Moi Stadium are Bukhungu Stadium in Kakamega and Afraha Stadium in Nakuru, with the Mumias Sports Complex, Kenyatta Stadium in Machakos and MISC Kasarani chosen as alternative venues in cases of bad weather.
The continental oldest tournament makes its return to regional scene after two years of absence. The last edition of the tournament was held in 2015 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where record champions Uganda Cranes beat Rwanda 1-0 to win the title.
The tournament’s prize money structure remains the same with the winner pocketing 30,000 US dollars; runner-ups will take home 20,000 and 10,000 US dollars respectively.
The tournament started as the Gossage Cup in 1926 involving Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika and Zanzibar, before changing its name to CECAFA with Zambia, Malawi, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia joining.
It was not played in 1950 as Gossage and the title was shared in 1951 between Uganda and Kenya.
The tournament began proper in 1967 as CECAFA and in 1986 and 1993 the tournaments were not held as both Somalia and Uganda, who were hosts, withdrew.
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