Kenya Premier League champions Gor Mahia FC will have a new coach lead them at the regional CECAFA Kagame Cup 2024 slated for July 9-21st in Dar es salaam, Tanzania.

Gor Mahia announced the signing of a new coach Leonardo Martins Neiva on Monday. The experienced coach takes over from Johnathan McKinstry who recently joined Gambia as the national head coach.

The Brazilian who will have the first task of leading the team at the CECAFA Kagame Cup is not new to the African setting after handing SC Vipers (Uganda), Young Africans SC (Tanzania), Al-Merriekh (Sudan) and South Africa’s Platinum Stars Youth side. He has also coached teams in Brazil, Mynmar, Jamaica and Thailand.

Neiva will be assisted by our former player and coach Zedekiah ‘Zico’ Otieno and Michael Nam as they lead Gor Mahia as they attempt to win their fourth CECAFA Kagame Cup trophy.

Top teams from the CECAFA Zone will also use the regional tournament to prepare ahead of the start of the 2024/2025 TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and the TotalEnergies Confederation Cup.

The CECAFA Kagame Cup 2024 will take place in Tanzania.

The regional tournament organised under the Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) will take place from July 20th to 4th August, 2024.

John Auka Gecheo, the CECAFA Executive Director has confirmed that some guest sides will take part in the tournament which will return this year after it was last held in 2021.

“We are glad that this tournament will be returning after two years to provide a brilliant preseason platform for the teams to prepare better before the start of the 2024/2025 CAF Champions League, CAF Confederations Cup and the different Leagues back home,” dded  Gecheo.

He explained that besides the respective Premier League champions from the 12 Members Associations including Zanzibar, CECAFA will also invite some other teams to spice up the tournament.

Uganda’s Express FC beat guest side Nyasa Big Bullets from Malawi 1-0 in the final when the tournament was last held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in 2021. Tanzania’s Simba SC have lifted the CECAFA Kagame Cup a record six times, while Young Africans SC (Tanzania) and Tusker FC (Kenya) five times each. The teams that have lifted the title three times each include; APR FC (Rwanda), Al Merriekh (Sudan), SC Villa (Uganda) and Kenya’s Gor Mahia FC.

The Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) has announced that the CECAFA Kagame Cup 2023 will not take place.

Auka Gecheo, the CECAFA Executive Director said on Monday that the competition meant for top teams in the Zone has been cancelled because of a busy CAF/FIFA calendar.

” It is unfortunate that once again we shall not have this tournament this year. We had hope to stage the tournament to also help our teams in the region use to prepare ahead of the CAF competitions which start next month, ” added Gecheo.

The last CECAFA Kagame Cup was held in 2021 when Uganda’s Express FC beat visiting Nyasa Big Bullets FC from Malawi 1-0 in the final played in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Gecheo also made it clear that the CECAFA U-23 Championship that was meant to take place in Ethiopia will now be played next year in January.

” We have made some adjustments to the calendar as we start with the CECAFA U-18 Women’s Championship which kicks off in Tanzania on July 25th, ” added the CECAFA Executive Director.

He stated that the CAF Women’s Champions League for the CECAFA Zone will take place in Uganda August 12-30th, while the CECAFA U-15 Boys Championship takes place November 4-18th in Uganda.

Kenya will host both the CECAFA U-18 Boys Championship between November 25th and December 9th, and the Zonal qualifiers for the Pan African Schools Championship later in December.