Tanzania and Rwanda have been selected as the hosts for the CECAFA Region under 20 and Under 17 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers respectively.

This verdict was arrived at during the CECAFA Executive Committee meeting that was held in Arusha, Tanzania on Saturday, 10th, October, 2020.

The 23rd edition of the U20 Cup of Nations qualifiers for the Central and East zone that was initially scheduled to be hosted in Sudan but couldn’t take palace because of the corona virus pandemic outbreak has been scheduled for November 22 – December 6, 2020 with up to 10 national associations confirming participation in the qualifying tournament.

Uganda Hippos who were knocked out by Cameroon at the penultimate qualifying round in 2019 will be seeking qualification for their maiden AFCON U20 finals and will have to tussle it out with the likes of Eritrea, Tanzania, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Burundi and Djibouti.

The U20 tournament finals will be hosted by Mauritania between February and March 2021.

In another development, Rwanda was maintained as the host the Central and East Africa zone U 17 qualifying tournament that is to be staged in Kigali from December 13th  to December 28th.

The tournament which was initially set to be held in July but called off because of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak will attract countries; Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, Djibouti, Tanzania, , South Sudan, Eritrea, Sudan and Ethiopia who have already confirmed participation.

The tournament that has been upgraded in terms of participating teams; form 8 teams to 12 teams will be hosted by Morocco in July 2021 where the top four teams of the tournament will qualify for the 2021 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Peru as Africa’s representatives.

In the last edition in 2017, Uganda reached the group stages.

CECAFA advised that the host countries should therefore give the necessary assurances to the participating teams on their wellbeing and precautions around COVID-19 but also noted that all the countries taking part in both tournaments will be in charge for their safety particularly in line with the COVID-19 testing and any other procedures required.

Story by Joseph Mary Ssempiira

jmssempiira@sportznow.ug