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Cecafa flip-flop on dates, Uganda draw Burundi
National Duty. The Crested Cranes have work to do at Cecafa Championship. PHOTO / JOHN BATANUDDE
What you need to know:
- Cecafa are also yet to finalize the regulations of the tournament that will start with two groups of four and then head into a knockout phase to determine the champions.
Cecafa are doing everything fast except stamping the dates for when the Women Championship will take place at the Fufa Technical Centre, Njeru. Initially, Fufa communicated May 22 to June 5 as the dates but after conducting yesterday’s draw on Zoom, Cecafa competitions director Yusuf Mossi said they are yet to confirm the dates.
“We shall let you know about the dates tomorrow (today) after our meeting with Caf but we definitely want to have it before Awcon (Africa Women Cup of Nations),” Mossi said.
“We are still have to align some things with Caf but what we can confirm is that the tournament will be in Uganda,” he added before urging teams to “complete the registration of players within the next nine days.”
Cecafa are also yet to finalize the regulations of the tournament that will start with two groups of four and then head into a knockout phase to determine the champions.
“We want to help our two teams Uganda and Burundi heading to Awcon to prepare for the games in Morocco,” Caf executive director Gecheo Auka, who also hosted the Zoom session, said. Uganda as hosts were drawn in Pool A alongside Burundi, Rwanda and Djibouti while Tanzania, the most highly ranked team in the region, were drawn with Ethiopia, South Sudan and Zanzibar. Champions Kenya are out of the contest as they continue to serve a suspension from Fifa for their administrative wrangles.
Past meetings
Meanwhile, Uganda and Burundi, are familiar foes having met in the pool stages of the 2016 edition in Njeru and in the third place playoffs of the 2019 edition in Tanzania.
Uganda won both encounters 1-0 (with a goal from Fazila Ikwaput) and 2-0 (with goals from Amina Nababi and Shamirah Nalugya) respectively.
That 2019 edition also gave Uganda its biggest win - a 13-0 thumping of Djibouti led by five goals from Juliet Nalukenge, hat-tricks from Ikwaput and Hasifah Nassuna plus goals from Nababi and Fauzia Najjemba.
Rwanda will be Uganda’s toughest opponent having come twice rallied to cancel goals from Lillian Mutuuzo and Norah Alupo in a 2018 2-2 finish.
