The inaugural CECAFA/CAF Women’s Champions Zonal Competition will be held in Kenya it has been confirmed.
Members of the Council of East and Central African Football Associations (CECAFA) made the decision during a meeting held in Rabat, Morocco on Thursday ahead of the General Assembly of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) taking place today. Ethiopia will meanwhile host the Senior Challenge Cup.
The Club and Senior competitions will be staged between June and August with the Age grade competition staged during School holidays.
The CECAFA Executive Director Auka Gacheo has also confirmed that Somalia will not participate in the Women’s Champions League qualifier, Rwanda and Eritrea who are member Associations have not committed to participating either.
“We deliberated well and members decided we have five tournaments taking place through the year,” CECAFA Executive Director Auka Gaceho confirmed.
Unlike other editions, this year’s CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup will be an Under-23 tournament. This is in a view of building up strong sides that will challenge for continental honors in future.
Djibouti will host the CECAFA Senior Women’s Challenge, Tanzania the CECAFA Kagame Club Championship while Uganda will host the U-20 Women’s Challenge Cup.
“We are optimistic the region will have very successful tournaments during the year,” added Gacheo. The meeting was also attended by CECAFA President Wallace Karia and Board members.
Because of the challenges of COVID-19, the region only held two tournaments last year, the U-20 Afcon and U-17 Afcon qualifiers in Tanzania and Rwanda respectively.
Hosts for 2021 tournaments
CECAFA U- 20 women’s Challenge Cup – Uganda
CECAFA Senior Women’s Challenge – Djibouti
CECAFA Kagame Club Championship – Tanzania
CECAFA Men’s Challenge Cup – Ethiopia
CECAFA/CAF Women’s Champions League Zonal Competition – Kenya