Rwanda Football Federation, Ferwafa, has confirmed the hosting of the 2018 CECAFA Women Challenge Cup, scheduled to be staged from July19-27 in Kigali. Initially the event was supposed to take place on May 12-22 but it was postponed due to unavailability of hosting budget, which was initially meant to be sent to Rwanda FA by the Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) in April. According to Bonnie Mugabe, Ferwafa spokesperson, the local football governing body has received funds to host the tournament as per request from Ferwafa to CECAFA Secretariat, to ensure the smooth organization and running of the tournament. “We have received the funds from Cecafa and, we have set the new dates for the competition. We are looking forward to welcome the region to Kigali and enjoying a well-organized tournament. Everything will be in place just in time,” Mugabe told Saturday Sport. The spokesperson further revealed that the Ministry of Sports and Culture is looking for a new coach to take in charge the national women’s football team (She-Amavubi) after the departure of Jean Baptiste Kayiranga who joined Tanzanian side – Alliance Sports Club. The week-long regional competition will be contested by a total 11 countries; Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Burundi, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Sudan and South Sudan. As hosts, Rwanda will be aiming to win the tournament but will face strong opposition from defending champions Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Kenya who, unlike Rwanda, have had competitive women’s teams in recent continental and global qualifiers. At the 2016 edition in Uganda, She-Amavubi, then under the tutelage of Grace Nyinawumuntu, were eliminated in the preliminary rounds after group defeats to Tanzania and Ethiopia. Tanzania won the title after edging Kenya in the final while Ethiopia overcame hosts Uganda to take third place. Cecafa secretariat has received $1,000,000 Fifa grant that will be used to host all regional championships this year including; U-17, Senior Women and Men’s competitions. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
