CAF
CAF Zonal meetings in Cairo
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) together with EUFA organised a two day meeting with all the six caf zones to deliberate on the structure to be used in the 2019 AFCON Under 17 tournament in Tanzania.
CAF in its executive committee meeting in Morocco in July recommended that qualification for the final round in Tanzania in 2019 beheld at zonal level in order to give equal opportunities to all the zones in Africa.
CECAFA secretary General Nicholas Musonye presented a detailed format CECAFA would want used durung the zone qualifiers. Other zones that presented their formats included UNAF, WAFU A, WAFU B and COSAFA. The central zone (UNIFAC) were not present.
While opening the two-day brain storming session, CAF acting Secretary General Essam Ahmed thanked zones for supporting the development of football in Africa. He said they had partnered with EUFA in order to create more opportunities around the zonal competitions. These opportunities will include training programmes, referees seminars, media engagement and the inspirational activities of the legends in each zone.
The CAF emphasised that the zonal qualifiers should be played in consideration of the health of the players in mind. This means, matches should be played in good conditions and atmosphere.
The CECAFA qualifiers will start with knock-out round and culminate in the eight finalists converging in Tanzania for the final round in August 2018. The winner and hosts Tanzania will represent the zone in the AFCON 2019 also in Tanzania.