Cecafa to hold talks with Rwanda over Kagame Cup

THE Council of East and Central Africa Football Association, (Cecafa) is planning to hold talks with the Rwanda football federation and the ministry of Sports and Culture about hosting this year’s Kagame Cup tournament in Kigali. The Cecafa/Kagame Cup tournament is sponsored by President Paul Kagame since 2002. President Kagame injects $60,000 which is distributed among the top three finishing teams in the annual tournament. Besides the prize money, the President also gives $15,000 every year for organisation of the tournament, bringing the total sponsorship to $75,000. As a result of that support, Cecafa leaders renamed the competition Cecafa-Kagame Club Cup championship. The sponsorship remains the competition’s lifeline to date. The Cecafa Secretary General Nicholas Musonye is enduring a torrid time to get the host nation for the year’s event, which last year, was held in Darfur and was won by Burundi’s Vital’O, who beat APR in the final. Musonye said it is still too early to name the host nation but efforts are still being taken to find a breakthrough. “We are planning to come to Rwanda in the coming days to hold talks with the federation and government officials. We want this tournament big and better, and we believe Kigali could be the best option,” said Musonye.