Cecafa urges Govt to stage Challenge at new stadium

Cecafa Secretary-General, Nicolas Musonye

The Confederation of East and Central Africa Football Associations (Cecafa) has asked the Government to allow the Senior Challenge Cup to be staged at the new ultra-modern stadium.

The Cecafa Secretary-General, Nicolas Musonye, said yesterday that the stadium would enable the country to host the tournament, set for December 8-22, more successfully.

``The new stadium have the quality of staging such international tournaments, therefore as the host country it would be more useful to utilize it,`` suggested Musonye.

Musonye added that they had already sent a letter to the Minister for Information, Culture and Sports to express their concerns.

``Because the event would be televised, it would be a good opportunity for Tanzania to market its ability of hosting huge events.

If possible, the opening match between Tanzania and Kenya should be staged at the stadium,`` said Musonye.

On his part, the chairman of Cecafa, Dennis Obua, who is on the verge of leaving the post, said the Government should consider the request more seriously because the Challenge Cup is a big tournament in the region.

Meanwhile, The Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) and Cecafa have decided to shift the Group C matches to Arusha.
TFF Secretary-General, Fredrick Mwakalebela, said that the decision aimed at allowing many Tanzanians to watch the tournament.

``Arusha has been selected because of strategic reasons, basically in terms of good infrastructure, climate and accommodation which would suit the tournament,`` said Mwakalebela.

Teams which are in Group C include Sudan, Ethiopia and Zanzibar.

Teams in groups A and B, which are Tanzania, Burundi, Kenya, Somalia, Rwanda, Uganda, Eritrea, and Djibouti, will play their matches in Dar es Salaam.

The tournament will involve 11 countries and the winners would scoop 30,000 USD, the second winners 20,000 USD while the third winners would take home 10,000 USD.

The countries are the hosts Tanzania, Burundi, Zanzibar, Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya. Others are Eritrea, Djibouti, Uganda, Rwanda and Sudan.