CECAFA cancels 2024 Senior Challenge Cup for Kagame Cup

The Council for East and Central Africa Football Association (CECAFA) has announced the cancellation of the 2024 Senior Challenge Cup.

The competition, regarded as the oldest football tournament in Africa, was scheduled to be played between June 29, 2024 and July 14, 2024.

CECAFA said the tournament, which was last played in 2019 when Uganda won it, was cancelled to allow teams prepare adequately for the Kagame Cup.

CECAFA Executive Director John Auka Gacheo meanwhile announced new dates for the Kagame Cup, which will now run between the July 6, 2024 and July 22, 2024 in Tanzania and Zanzibar.

The competition was initially planned to take place between July 20, 2024 and August 4, 2024.

Part of the letter from CECAFA read: “Due to the busy CAF calendar, the competition has been rescheduled so that it kicks off earlier to allow a few days of rest before the start of the CAF Club competitions.”

This year’s Kagame Cup will include three teams from outside the CECAFA region, namely, TP Mazembe of the DR Congo, Nyasa Big Bullets of Malawi and Zambia’s Red Arrows FC.

Gacheo said the competition would help prepare teams in the zone, ahead of the continental club championship due to start in August.

“Inviting top sides from Congo, Malawi and Zambia would spice up this competition and give our teams a real test ahead of the continental competitions,” added Gacheo.  

Teams that would feature in Kagame Cup include Burundi’s Vital’O, APR FC from Rwanda, Sudanese giants EL Merreikh, AL Hilal and Hai El Wadi of Sudan.

Tanzania and Zanzibar will be represented by Young Africans FC, Simba SC, Azam FC, Coastal Union FC and JKU SC.

Gor Mahia will represent Kenya while Uganda will be represented by SC Villa. El Merreikh FC Bentiu will represent South Sudan.

Kenya’s representatives in the regional tournament Gor Mahia last featured in the competitions in 2019, where they lost 2-0 to Tanzanian side Azam in the finals played at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam. Gor were unbeaten in the tournament before going down to Azam.

Azam lifted the trophy without conceding a goal. Gor reached the finals courtesy of a 3-1 semi-final win against Sudanese side Khartoum, while Azam were in the last two after beating Uganda’s KCCA 1-0.

The last time Gor won the tournament was in 1985 when they beat AFC Leopards 2-0 in an all Kenyan final in Khartoum, Sudan. The two goals were scored by William Obwaka who had joined Gor that same year (1985).