The Executive Director of the Council of East and Central Africa Football Association (CECAFA) has made it clear that the regional body will keep building capacity in different areas in their quest for more football development.

John Auka Gecheo was speaking during the opening of the General Coordinators Workshop at the Swiss Lenana Mount Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya on Wednesday.

“We wish to build capacity for General Coordinators’ expertise in our member Associations who will not only be resourceful to their Federations in Football development but also to CECAFA, CAF and FIFA,” said Gecheo.

The workshop is being facilitated by CAF Match General Coordinator and Instructor,  Mazen Marzouk, and moderated by Baraka Kizuguto, the CECAFA Football Development Manager.

Marzouk made it clear that the Workshop is very important because it is in line with developing a new crop of General Coordinators in CECAFA region to meet CAF and FIFA international standards.

The workshop which started yesterday and ends on Thursday forms part of the CECAFA objectives in building capacity of football match officials involved in match organization.

Apart from Sudan, all the other CECAFA Member Associations Kenya, Uganda, Somalia, Eritrea, Tanzania, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Rwanda and Zanzibar have sent two members to attend the Workshop.

Last month CECAFA also held Women’s Executive Leadership Workshop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The 46^th Confederation of African Football Ordinary General Assembly will take place on October 22rd, 2024 in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

DR Congo was initially meant to host the Assembly in Kinshasha on October 10^th, 2024, but CAF made some changes.

“We are very happy that we shall be hosting the CAF Ordinary General Assembly in Addis Ababa. It is always a pleasure to host members the Football family in Ethiopia,” says Isayas Jira Bosho, President of the Ethiopia Football Federation (EFF) who is also a CAF Executive member.

Ethiopia last hosted the CAF Ordinary General Assembly in 2017 at the Nelson Mandela Hall, at the African Union Headquarters, Ethiopia.

Star player Mohamed Abdelrahman netted the lone goal that sent Al Hilal to the group stage of the 2024/2025 TotalEnergies CAF Champions League.

After drawing 2-2 in the first leg of the second preliminary round against San Pedro, the Sudan Premier League side picked a hard earned 1-0 win in the return leg match played at the Cheikha Ould Boidiya Stadium in Nouakchott, Mauritania on Sunday.

Abdelrahman who netted the two goals in the first leg scored the only goal after 45 minutes. Al Hilal held their nerves to qualify on a 3-2 goal aggregate and join Tanzania’s Young Africans SC as the only teams from the CECAFA Zone that will play in the group stage.

“We are happy that after hard work we have managed to qualify for the group stage,” said a happy Al Hilal coach Florent Ibenge after the match.

The 16 teams that have now qualified the group stage include; Al Hilal (Sudan), Young Africans SC (Tanzania), CR Belouizdada, MC Alger (Algeria), Al Ahly, Pyramids FC (Egypt), AS Maniema Union, TP Mazembe (DR Congo), Mamelodi Sundowns FC, Orlando Pirates FC (South Africa), Esperance de Tunis (Tunisia), Raja Club Athletic, AS FAR Rabat (Morocco), Sagrada Esperanca (Angola), Stade d’Abidjan (Ivory Coast) and Djoliba AC (Mali).

Simba SC have booked a place in the group stage of the 2024/2025 TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup.

The Tanzania Premier League side battled from a goal down at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dra es Salaam on Sunday to defeat Libya’s Al Ahli Tripoli 3-1 on Sunday to qualify for the group stage.

After only 17 minutes Angolan striker Paciencia Mabululu intercepted a back-pass and slotted the ball in the net to give the visitors the lead. But Simba SC fought back strongly to score through Dennis Kibu and Leonel Ateba to give them a 2-1 lead at the interval.

Later in the second half Simba continued to dominate play and added a third goal through Edwin Balua to ensure the Tanzanian team qualified on a 3-1 goal aggregate.

Simba Sc becomes the only team from the CECAFA Zone that has qualified for the group stage of the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup after Burundi’s Rukinzo FC and Kenya Police all exited at the second preliminary stage.

Simba SC has now qualified for the group stage together with CS Constantine, USM Alger (Algeria), Orapa United (Botswana), Black Bulls FC (Mozambique), Bravos do Maquis, Lunda Sul FC (Angola), Stellenbosch FC (South Africa), CS Sfaxien (Tunisia), Al Masry, Zamalek FC (Egypt), Enyimba FC (Nigeria), Stade Malien (Mali), ASEC Mimosas (Ivory Coast), RS Berkane (Morocco) and ASC Jaraaf (Senegal).