CAF President Ahmad lead the crowds to Gitega on Sunday for intriguing Under 17 Final pitting Somalia against Tanzania

The reverberating elimination of Kenya and Uganda from the semi-finals of the Cecafa U17 Championship on Wednesday raised the rating of the tournament as one of the best staged in the region and the organisation assisted by Fifa funding and CAF information technology is certainly of efficiency unmatched.

The CAF InfoTech department completed enabling the region to start running its events under the recording of the Competition Management System (CMS). All details; the biography of the young players, line-ups, officials, playing formations, are captured for permanent accuracy.

Burundi, a small country of just 10 million, loves football and even in the peasant rural setting of the small towns and villages, the passion is being matched by the construction of stadiums built largely by communal labour when construction material is provided by the national and provincial governments together with prominent sports administrators and individuals.

The Cecafa officials, for instance, took time from the already usable stadia, to visit the largest, a 24,000 seater under construction in Makamba, south of the country by the country’s head of football Révérien Ndikuriyo, who is also the speaker of the country’s senate.

The ongoing Cecafa (Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations) junior event comes to a climax on Sunday, with CAF President, Ahmad, attending the Final make the awards. Somalia, of all teams, made the Final to meet an excellent Tanzania side that slew pre-tournament intimidating favourites Kenya, 2-1 in the semi-finals after having sent out a warning by holding Uganda 1-1 in their opening match on April 15.