Former mainland champions Simba will play Tusker FC of Kenya in the East and Central Africa Club championship (Kagame Cup) opening match. The regional tourney will kick off in Dar es Salaam from July 12 – 26.
A source within the organising committee said yesterday that the Group `A` match would be played at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam.
The source further said that the Mainland Champions Yanga would play APR of Rwanda in the next day adding that all matches would be handled by Fifa referees.
The fixtures for the championship were expected to be released last evening in Dar es Salaam.
The regional tourney will attract 12 teams divided into three groups.
Other teams in Group `A` are Vital’O of Burundi and Benadir (Somalia).
Group `B’ has URA (Uganda), Rayon (Rwanda) , Denden (Eritrea) and SID (Djibouti).
Teams in the Group `C` are APR (Rwanda), Yanga (Tanzania), Awasa (Ethiopia) and Miembeni (Zanzibar).
Two teams in each group will advance into the quarterfinals.
In another development, Tanzania Breweries Limited (TBL) through its Castle brand will use 80m/- to sponsor the event, Castle Brand Manager Mpeli Nsekela announced yesterday.
He said that TBL would also use between 20m/- and 25m/- for the logistics of the tourney.
Rwanda president Paul Kagame will use 60,000 USD (above 60m/-) to sponsor the event.
On his part, the Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (Cecafa) Secretary-General Nicholas Musonye said all matches would be played in Dar es Salaam and that Tanzania clubs would play their matches over the weekend.
- SOURCE: Guardian
