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Kenya’s hopes of hosting Cecafa tournament in jeopardy

By NAHASHON MUSUNGU September 21st, 2017 1 min read

Kenya’s plans of staging the Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup come November have been thrown into jeopardy, Nairobi News understands.

Kenya, through Football Kenya Federation president Nick Mwendwa, has continuously expressed interest in hosting the annual regional tournament, ahead of the Africa Nations Championship (Chan) early next year.

It has however emerged that Burundi, Sudan and Ethiopia are also interested in hosting the tournament.

“When you want to host Cecafa you don’t declare your interest through the media. Rather, you contact the Secretariat and allow things move from there,” a Cecafa insider told Nairobi News.

2018 CHAN

“I say this because the credible interest we have as far as the 2017 tournament is concerned is from Sudan, Ethiopia and Burundi.”

“There are some people who frustrated us when we wanted to stage the tournament in Kenya in 2016 and had even secured a sponsor. So we are now wondering what has changed.”

Politics aside, there also is considerable concern among the Cecafa bosses that Kenya might not have enough facilities to host Cecafa this year, considering five stadiums in Nairobi, Eldoret, Machakos and Eldoret are currently undergoing government commissioned renovations.

Kenya is also risks losing the hosting rights of the 2018 Africa Nations Championship with the Confederation of African Football reportedly less than satisfied with the country’s preparedness.