Tuesday 30 June 2009

CECAFA Club Championships 2009 -Sudan

While the Kenyan local scene dithers, the regional club scene raises the tempo starting today with the annual tournament today. Kenyans representatives include Tusker FC who are also the defending champs, along with Mathare United. These two clubs have been more consistent locally than most in recent times.
But comparing them with the competition they are upto will be no easy task and the local scene has not helped either. Much bickering between Football Kenya and KPL has seen the football standards dwindle compared to last season. The management has also been a round of chairs with TuskerFC most affected. Mathare have also struggled this season currently lying at 9th in the KPL.
The tournament organisers have put a good job forward and from images coming for Sudan, the pitches look favourable for play. The prize money has also been raised from the annual US$ 60,000 with the Sudanese company El Merreikh adding US$ 600, 000. Winners will take home $50,000 , 2nd place $ 30,000 and 3rd place $ 20,000.
The clubs representing their countries look formidable especially KCC (Uganda), El Merreikh and El Arab(both from Sudan-home advantage) and TP Mazembe ( Congo DRC) who have been invited to replace Ethiopia and Eritrean withdrawals.
I hope KBC will consider screening some of the matches ( freebie Kenyan in me). I do also hope CECAFA can secure sponsorship for the Senior Challenge Cup which is scheduled for later this year after the withdrawal of the now-defunct GTV who were the sole sponsors.
It ought to be a fairly well-attended affair if some of the countries do indeed qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations since the World Cup qualifiers have shown none of the countries in the region will qualify thus far.


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