Musonye explains why teams are out of CECAFA cup

FOOTBALL CECAFA

Rwanda and other nations missing out on this year's CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup failed to meet the $20,000 (sh73m) requirement for every participating member to be part of the competition.

This was revealed by CECAFA General Secretary Nicholas Musonye at FUFA house Mengo in a press conference to unveil the road map to the tournament that gets underway tomorrow at the StarTimes Stadium, Lugogo.

According to Musonye, all regional football associations were invited to Addis Ababa the Ethiopian capital and all agreed on the fees.

"We invited all member federations in Ethiopia and agreed that for any country to take part in any of the Cecafa tournaments, they should pay US dollars 20,000 to facilitate the organisation. Those that did not pay have been locked out," Musonye explained.

Rwanda, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo are the countries that were supposed to take part in these tournaments but failed to pay.

The long-serving CECAFA boss also hailed FUFA for taking the risk to host two regional tournaments at a-go despite limited resources.

"I want to appreciate FUFA for taking such a big risk to host two regional tournaments at the same time. With all the limited resources, Uganda accepted to host them. As Cecafa we are very proud of the spirit shown by Uganda. It is indeed a football nation," he appreciated.

Uganda is hosting both the Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup men starting tomorrow at Lugogo.

The U17 girls' Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup is also set to get underway next week in Jinja at the FUFA Technical Centre, Njeru.

The Association spokesperson Rodgers Mulindwa explained the change of the game venues from the ones earlier communicated.

"We had booked Lugogo but later received communication that the stadium was booked as well by other people. Then last night we came to an agreement with KCCA FC, so we confirm that the tournament will be hosted there and at Namboole stadium for the men competition whereas the girls will be hosted in Jinja," Mulindwa explained.

Uganda who is record champions having won the tournament 14 times will open their 15th title hunt against Burundi at the StarTimes Stadium Lugogo tomorrow at 4 pm.

Earlier in the day, Djibouti will entertain their neighbours Somalia at 1 pm.