SC Villa open CECAFA clubs cup campaign against hosts Mlandege

BY REUBEN OLITA IN NAIROBI CECAFA at the weekend revised February 17-March 4 Club Cup fixtures in Zanzibar in order to give the regions' flag bearers in the African Champions' league preliminary matches ample time to rest before the event. Ugandan club champions SC Villa will open their campaign for the Council of East and Central Africa Football Association title with a match against the hosts Mlandege on on February 17. Kenyan champions Oserian Fastac, Simba SC (Tanzania), Prince Louis (Burundi), Electricity (Ethiopia) and APR (Rwanda) will be involved in the continental championships on the weekend of February 16-17. Oserian will take on Electricity, Prince Louis v Costa do Sol (Mozambique), Simba v Red Star (Eritrea) and APR will clash with Hintra of Eritrea. CECAFA secretary-general Nicholas Musonye said the revised fixture was meant to give the teams involved in the preliminaries of the Champions cup enough time to rest before travelling to Zanzibar for the showcase. Villa and defending champions Tusker of Kenya will not participate in the preliminaries of the champions league. They qualified for the first round proper. After meeting Mlandege, Villa will return to Amaan Stadium, the venue of the matches, on February 19 to face Oserian. The Ugandans will play their third match on February 21 against Electricity before they wind up their preliminaries on February 25 when they face Rwanda army side APR. Tusker will open their title defence when they meet Forodha of Zanzibar on February 18. Villa are in group "A" together with Mlandege, Electricity, APR and Oserian while Tusker are in group "B" together with Forodha, Elman (Somalia), Prince Louis and Simba. The semi finals will be played on March 2 while the finals will be held on March 4. Full fixtures: Feb 17: Mlandege v Villa Feb 18: Tusker v Forodha Feb 19 Electricity v Mlandege Feb 19: Villa v Oserian Feb 20: Elman v Simba Feb 20: P. Louis v Tusker Feb 21: Oserian v APR Feb 21 Villa v Electricity Feb 22: Elman v Forodha Feb 22: Simba v P. Louis Feb 25: APR v Villa Feb 25: Mlandege v Oserian Feb 26: P.Louis v Elman Feb 26: Simba v Tusker Feb 27: Electricity v APR Feb 28: Forodha v Simba March 1 Rest Day March 2 Semi finals March 3 Rest Day March 4 Final and play off