Lazy officials at the Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations are not beaten, but they have been battered. Everyone agrees that this is a “bath”, SG Nicolas Musonye farting in the tub.
The Cecafa Kagame Cup has not been held thrice in the last two decades, in 1990 2010 then 2016, and has since 2002 been sponsored by Rwandan President Paul Kagame to a tune of $60,000 in prize money but the inaugural Startimes International Cup slated for Tanzania from 16th to 23rd December 2016 has a budget of USD 200,000 at spend.
The champion of the tournament will bag home a cool USD 50,000 (approx UGX 165 million) while the second runner ups sweep USD 30,000 (UGX 99M). The tournament top scorer and best goalkeeper have USD 2,000 (UGX 6.6 M).
The tournament is sponsored by pay television company “StarTimes.”
After the 2016 CECAFA edition being shunned by all possible hosts, the latest invitational tourney is viewed from most quarters as future replacement of struggling Kagame Cup. And that’s the other bad thing, too often forgotten when it comes to analyzing CECAFA was not financially supporting these clubs before, during and after its tournaments.
Uganda champions KCCA have also confirmed participation in the tournament, so will Kenya’s dethroned kings Gor Mahia.
DR Congo heavyweights and the reigning CAF Confederations champions TP Mazembe, APR of Rwanda, Liga Desportiva of Mozambique and Burundi’s Vital’O are the other teams expected to grace the competition.
