Tanzania’s Yanga have been barred from participating in this year’s Cecafa Kagame club championship for lining up a weakened side.

Cecafa officials have since replaced them with local rivals and current champions Azam.

The tournament gets underway in Kigali later this week.

Yanga were in Group A alongside Rayon Sports (Rwanda), Adamma FC (Ethiopia), Atlbara (South Sudan) and KMKM (Zanzibar).  

Azam finished second in the Tanzanian league last season before winning the league this season.

Cecafa secretary general Nicholas Musonye confirmed the development to Times Sport on Tuesday.  "Azam will replace Yanga after the latter indicated that they would field a second-string side, which is unacceptable. "It doesn’t make sense at all and it’s disrespectful to our patron,” he said by telephone from Nairobi, Kenya. President Paul Kagame is the sponsor of the annual club tournament.

Yanga won the 2012/2013 Tanzania league champions ahead of Azam, before the latter won this year’s title.

Yanga also pulled out of last year’s edition after citing security concerns following the decision to hold the regional club championships in Darfur, Sudan.

The tournament, which saw Burundi’s Vital’O emerge champions, went without incident.