THE Council of East and Central African Football Association (Cecafa) has delayed the release of fixtures for this year’s senior Challenge Cup due in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania next month.

Cecafa president Leodegar Tenga told the Tanzanian media over the weekend that the tournament fixture was supposed to be released on Sunday (yesterday) but Cameroon’s deep silence has crippled the efforts thus pushing the release to this Sunday.

"We have received a confirmation from Cote d’Ivoire while waiting for Cameron to join the fray,” said Tenga.

The regional football body has only received confirmation from Ivory Coast and the draws have been shifted to next week giving Cameroon ample time to confirm their participation.

If Cameroon fails to confirm their participation before the end of this week, a guest side from Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia or Zimbabwe may be invited since they are also pressing hard to seek inclusion into the championship.

Tenga also confirmed that Cote d’Ivoire would field domestic based players as their international players would be hard to secure due to their commitments in the premiership leagues across Europe.

The 2010 Senior Challenge Cup is scheduled to kick off at the end of next month through December with 13 teams lined up for the longest championship in the region.

Cecafa member countries that have confirmed participation are Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, Zanzibar, cup holders Uganda and hosts Mainland Tanzania.

The Challenge Cup, which was last hosted by Mainland Tanzania in 2007, will be played on two venues of Dar es Salaam and Mwanza. Serengeti Breweries have parted with staggering Rwf 337.5 million to sponsor the two-week long championship.

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