The East and Central Africa Club Championship, Kagame Cup, kicks off today in Dar es Salaam when Simba play Kenya`s Tusker in the opening match.
Simba who will be the first local club to use the newly-built 60,000-seater ultra-modern stadium, beat Express of Uganda 1-0 in a buildup match at the National Stadium last weekend.
The team trained by Jamhuri Kihwelu `Julio` also drew 1-1 with Miembeni of Zanzibar. Miembeni are also competing in the championship organised by the Council of East and Central Football Associations (Cecafa).
Jamhuri said yesterday that he had prepared his team well to win the regional tourney.
“We have trained a lot for this tournament, we want to show our fans that we have recruited good players this time by wining the title,“ he said.
Mainland champions Yanga will tomorrow play defending champions APR of Rwanda on the same ground in a match termed as `the best of all`.
The regional championship is sponsored by Rwanda President Paul Kagame and Castle Lager.
Ten teams have been placed into three groups.
Group `A` has Simba (Tanzania), Tusker (Kenya), Vital`O (Burundi) and Benadir (Somalia).
URA (Uganda), Rayon (Rwanda) and Awasa (Ethiopia) are in Group `B`. Group `C` has Yanga (Tanzania), APR (Rwanda) and Miembeni (Zanzibar).
- SOURCE: Guardian
