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Uganda to host Afcon U17 qualifier under strict conditions
Age group tournaments have proved to be a pathway to the national team - Uganda Cranes. PHOTO/COURTSEY
What you need to know:
The announcement was made on Saturday during Cecafa’s non-elective general assembly held in Mombasa, Kenya.
Uganda will host the Cecafa qualifiers for the 2025 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations Cecafa, but under a condition.
The announcement was made on Saturday during Cecafa’s non-elective general assembly held in Mombasa, Kenya.
According to the regional body’s chairman competitions committee Isayas Jira, Ethiopia and Uganda bid to host the qualifiers but the latter was awarded provided they don’t host it at the Fufa Technical Centre in Njeru.
“Ethiopia and Uganda applied to host the Afcon U-17 Boys [Cecafa qualifier] and we gave it to Uganda with asterisks,” Isayas Jira, Chairman Cecafa competitions committee announced.
“Why asterisks?” he explained, “If the venue will be in Jinja, we won’t go and Ethiopia is ready to host.”
Njeru and Jinja have been a traditional host to Cecafa tournaments since 2015.
The Ethiopia football president also revealed that the Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup will also return this year to be hosted by Zanzibar.
The Swahili island nation will also host the Caf PanAfrican Schools Championship pending the Caf’s approval. Zanzibar is not officially recognized by Fifa and Caf.
Afcon U20 boys’ qualifiers will be hosted by Tanzania, regional Caf Women’s Champions League and U20 girls’ championship will go to Ethiopia.
Cecafa president Wallace Karia reminded the members of their obligations to pay the $20,000 (approx. sh80m) to participate in the senior challenge. The competition will revert to its former state and will now been opened to all age categories breaking the U-23 barrier set in the last edition in Ethiopia in 2021.
The body has also introduced tough measures to govern its tournaments. Among the measures include that the host city of U17 tournaments must have the latest version (5 Tesla) of the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) used by Caf to determine age.
