All set for 2014 Cecafa Kagame Cup draw

PHOTO | MARTIN MUKANGU Fans of Gor Mahia FC react during the KPL Top Eight second-leg semi-final match against Tusker FC at City Stadium on June 4, 2014. Gor Mahia will on July 11, 2014, know their opponents in the 2014 Cecafa Kagame Cup, which is set to be staged in Rwanda next month.

By  ODINDO AYIEKO

What you need to know:

  • The draw for the 40th edition of the regional championships will be done at the Rwanda Football Federation headquarters in Kigali at 6pm Kenyan time.
  • Rwanda President Paul Kagame has sponsored the regional club championship to a tune of US$60,000 in cash prize annually since 2002.

Kenyan Premier League champions Gor Mahia will Friday evening know their opponents in the 2014 Cecafa Kagame Cup, which is set to be staged in Rwanda next month.

The draw for the 40th edition of the regional championships will be done at the Rwanda Football Federation headquarters in Kigali at 6pm Kenyan time.

The draw include thirteen clubs with Gor Mahia making a return for the first time since 1996 when they represented Kenya as the champions of the 1995 national league. This year’s championships will kick off on August 9-24 at the Amahoro Stadium and the Kigali Regional Stadium.

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NO GUEST TEAM

Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations secretary general Nicholas Musonye said there will be no guest team in this year’s championships.

“There will be no guest team because we are even overwhelmed by the number of entrants (13 teams) and if we are to include a guest team, it would make it 14 (teams) and this would complicate our calculations,” Musonye stated.

The tournament has attracted league winners from 10 member countries and two clubs from hosts Rwanda and Burundi. Burundi’s Vital’O FC are the defending champions after they beat Rwandese giants APR 2-0 in the final hosted in Darfur last year.

PARTICIPANTS

Teams in Friday's draw include Rayon Sports and APR (both Rwanda), Yanga (Tanzania Mainland), Al-Merreikh SC (Sudan), Gor Mahia (Kenya), KCCA (Uganda), Vital’O and Le Flambeau de l'Est (Burundi), Telecom (Djibouti), Benadir (Somalia) and KMKM (Zanzibar), Dedebit (Ethiopia) and Atelbar (South Sudan).

Rwanda President Paul Kagame has sponsored the regional club championship to a tune of US$60,000 in cash prize annually since 2002. A further $15,000 has also been channelled into the organisation of the event.

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