The Cecafa senior men's Challenge Cup is back on the table after a five year-hiatus mainly due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Last held in
Cecafa men's Senior Challenge Cup is back! Why did it take so long?
You know when covid came in, the challenges were worldwide...so hosting some of these tournaments during covid19 time was not easy.
Cecafa is working hard so that we have as many tournaments as possible to give both boys and girls more platforms to nurture their talents. Last year, we had five tournaments but this year we are having six tournaments.
The very good thing about this year is that the senior challenge cup is back. It was last hosted in
The challenge cup is good because it brings the top teams in the region to compete against each other. The zone is thinking of inviting guest teams so as to spice things up and bring more competitiveness to the challenge cup.
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Do we know the dates yet?
The tentative dates are all I can say because sometimes we set the dates but then the host nation will make some changes and it will become another challenge.
For example, the [senior men's] challenge cup which will be the first tournament on the calendar is supposed to be around July because we have sponsors who are our broadcast partners Azam, they think that is the best time to have that tournament.
The senior challenge cup is supposed to take place from
The schools championship in
AFCON U20 boys qualifiers will take place from
The senior men's challenge cup has not taken place since 2019. How much has this hiatus affected regional football?
The fact that we have not had the tournament for long has not given our teams a chance to play as many games as possible so it even affects how we play during
The countries believe that if we have the challenge cup back it will help us because the
Do you think East African teams have gone some steps back since the competition was suspended?
Every country in the zone has different challenges. There are some countries where their players have become much older and the younger ones haven't matured enough. If you look at
Many of the teams in our [CECAFA] zone are really building and I am hopeful come 2027 that teams within our zone will have prepared very well and give a good show. We are very positive because member associations are bringing in experienced coaches, and they are playing more games. I can see
Five years have been long to bring the challenge cup back but the other problem is there has also been a busy calendar, sometimes there is no place to put the tournament as the calendar is loaded.
Now, going forward, the tournament is back and it is good news for the region, but can you say it is going to happen consistently?
Yeah, that is what the zone has agreed to. We agreed that this tournament should be consistent, it is back now. The people have been missing it because the challenge cup has a different vibe. When it resumes this year, we are hopeful it continues without a break. We want to see many member associations be ready to host it because sometimes hosting a competition is a problem.
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