Three women’s teams from the CECAFA Zone were engaged in different international matches last weekend.

Kenya’s Harambee Starlets who are taking part in the 2024 Pink Ladies Cup in Turkey suffered their second defeat on Saturday.

After losing 1-0 to Chinese Taipei in their first match, Kenya suffered a 4-0 defeat to Russia. Kenya will play their last match against Phillipines on October 30th.

On Sunday Twiga Stars of Tanzania settled for a 1-1 draw against Senegal in a match played at the Bchir Mohammed Stadium in Morocco.

China based forward Opah Clement Tukumbuke netted in the first half, but the Senegal team earned a late penalty converted by Nguenar.

The Tanzanian team under the watchful eyes of coach Hilda Masanche lost their first match 4-1 to hosts Morocco few days ago.

In another international friendly match played Uganda Crested Cranes beat hosts DR Congo in another International friendly match played at the Stade des Martyrs, Kinshasa on Sunday.

Indian based forward Fazila Ikwaput and Sylvia Kabene who was making her debut for the national team netted two second half goals, while the hosts also scored one. The two teams will again face-off on October 30^th in a second match.

The President of Ethiopia H.E Taye Atske Selassie has made it clear that the country will bid to host the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2029.

Selassie was speaking during the CAF 46th Ordinary General Assembly at Sky Light Hotel in Addis Ababa on Tuesday.

He made it clear that Ethiopia is proud to be part of the establishment of CAF back in 1957. “We are heavily investing in sports development and infrastructure, and when given chance we would want to host AFCON 2029,” added The President.

“I take this opportunity to request CAF to endorse Ethiopia to host AFCON 2029,” ended the Ethiopian President Selassie.

Earlier in his remarks, the Ethiopia Football Federation (EFF) President who is also a member of the CAF Executive Committee, Isayas Jira Bosho expressed Ethiopia’s desire to host continental tournaments starting with AFCON 2029.

During the Press Conference after the Assembly, CAF President Dr. Patrice Motsepe made it clear that he will be proud to see Ethiopia submit their bid to host AFCON 2029. “I encourage the government of Ethiopia and the Ethiopia Football Federation to submit their proposal. Every proposal will be looked at with fairness,” added Dr. Motsepe.

He further continued to point out that Ethiopia is blessed to be led by people who love Football like the Prime Minister. “I wish Ethiopia the very best in their bid to host AFCON 20229,” added the CAF President.

Although Ethiopia last hosted the AFCON in 1976, the CECAFA Zone will have the opportunity to host the AFCON 2027 in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. The three countries are also slated to host the TotalEnergies Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) 2025.

Hosts Ethiopia defeated Uganda 1-0 to win the 2024 Dire Mayor Cup in the final played at the Diredawa International Stadium on Sunday evening.

Benjamin Ayton netted the lone goal after 69 minutes to give the hosts the lead infront of fairly big crowd.

Although Uganda’s U-20 team preparing for the forth coming African Games 2024 in Ghana created some good scoring chances, they failed to make them count.

“ I am happy that despite the defeat the boys played well with good passing and now we must improve in finishing,” said Uganda Hippos coach Morley Byekwaso.

The Dire Mayor Cup was sponsored by Gofere, an Ethiopian-based sportswear brand. The other teams that were expected to take part in the invitational tournament but later pulled out included Djibouti and South Sudan.

The Executive Director of the Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) has said that he is impressed with the fast rate at which women’s football in the Zone is growing.

Auka Gecheo told Cecafaonline during an interview that over the past three years a lot has happened positively in the development and progress of Women’s football in the region.

Speaking at the sidelines of the on-going CAF Women’s Champions League – CECAFA Zone in Uganda, Gecheo said that many of the Member Associations are giving Women football a lot of attention and the changes are very visible.

” When you watch the quality and awareness in the Women’s Champions League qualifiers this year and compare it to 2021 there is a big difference. Women’s teams in the Zone are doing so much and always trying to get better, ” added the CECAFA Executive Director.

Gecheo said there is good growth in women’s football in the region with women playing quality football, having the technical ability and showing good tactical awareness on the pitch.

He made it clear that the fast rate at which women’s football is growing in the Zone speaks volumes about what the Member Associations and Clubs are doing. ” I actually think we stand a great chance of sending more women teams in the region to the international or global competitions, ” added Geceho.

The CECAFA Executive Director pointed out examples of teams like Tanzania’s U-17 who played at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in India last year, Simba Queens who reached the semi final stage of the 2022 CAF Women’s Champions League, and the national teams of Uganda and Burundi who played at the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.

Gecheo encouraged the Member Associations and clubs in the region to keep working hard to develop women’s football because he believes there is a lot of potential.