CECAFA looking for new Cup hosts after Kenya snub

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | 

The Confederation of East and Central Africa Football Associations (Cecafa) is looking for a new host for this year’s Senior Challenge Cup after Kenya backed out, officials said Thursday.

Cecafa had sought Kenya’s approval after original hosts Sudan withdrew from staging the annual tournament for national football teams earlier this year, citing financial constraints.

“Kenya have told us that they are not ready to host the championships which was scheduled to kick-off in late November to early December,” Cecafa secretary Nicolas Musonye said.

“We are now back to negotiating with Sudan again to see if they can agree to have the event back in Khartoum. Hopefully we should be able to get a conclusive reply by Friday.”

Uganda are the current Senior Challenge champions having won the trophy for a record 14th time in Addis Ababa last December.

Musonye said Kenya, which last hosted the Challenge Cup in 2013 and is preparing to stage the African Nations Championships (Chan) in two years time, have accepted to take over as hosts of the 2016 Kagame club championships after Tanzania, pulled out of staging the event last August due to their congested league programme.