Uganda to host Senior Challenge as CECAFA gets Sh100 M funding from FIFA

The Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (Cecafa) have lined up a series of activities starting June to December 2019 after getting a massive Sh100 million (1M USD) annual funding boost from FIFA.

While the Kagame Cup will be making a return to Rwanda in July for the first time since 2014, the flagship CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup is slated for December in Uganda.

The Senior Challenge Cup failed to take place last year due to lack of funds and hosting nation.

The funding will go towards the organization and hosting of U17 Challenge Cup in Eritrea, U17 Women Challenge Cup in Kenya, U20 Women Challenge Cup in Uganda, Senior Women Challenge Cup in Tanzania and U20 Men Challenge Cup in Uganda. The U17 and U20 women's tournaments will get an additional Sh 20 million (200,000 USD) from the world governing football body.

This was revealed during the CECAFA consultative meeting held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Monday where the members made several resolutions aimed at reclaiming and transforming football in the region.

During the occasion, the members attended the inauguration of the Regional FIFA Development Office in Addis Ababa, which was officiated by FIFA president Gianni Infantino and his CAF counterpart Ahmad Ahmad.

Apart from CECAFA, other region selected to host FIFA regional offices include Dakar in Senegal and Johannesburg in South Africa.

With Kagame Cup getting sponsorship from Azam TV and its patron Rwanda president Paul Kagame, the members states agreed to contribute Sh 2 million (20,000 USD) each to a solidarity fund that will guarantee to the staging of the oldest tournament in the continent.

"We are trying to harmonize the seven events to ensure that all of them are organized. Since we have money, and with the members having committed to make contributions towards the Senior Challenge Cup, expect exciting competitions this year," CECAFA Secretary General Nicholas Musonye told The Standard Sports.