CECAFA to punish age cheating nations during Youth tournaments

The Council of East and central African Football Associations (CECAFA) will start punishing nations that cheat age during Youth tournaments. Wallace Karia, the CECAFA President has made it clear that starting this year they are going to be very serious with age cheating and once caught some teams will be suspended.

Last year during the CECAFA U-15 Boys Challenge Cup held in Asmara, Eritrea, several teams complained that some teams had overage players.

“We are going to ensure that all teams carry out Magnetic resonance imaging tests for their youth teams and once a team is caught cheating then they will be banned by CECAFA,” said Karia who was elected President during the General Assembly held in Kampala, Uganda last December.

Karia, also the Tanzania FA President made it clear that this region will only improve if certain things are done right. “We need to work hard as Federations, but also provide a platform for tournaments as CECAFA and make sure we field the right players in the proper age categories,” added Karia.

In 2020 CECAFA will organize nine tournaments including the Zonal qualifiers for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) U-17 and AFCON U-20 to take place in Rwanda and Sudan respectively.

Tanzania will host the CECAFA Kagame Club Championships, while Djibouti for the first time host the CECAFA U-16 Boys Challenge Cup.

Burundi will host two tournaments the CECAFA U-20 Challenge Cup and the CECAFA U-17 Women’s Challenge Cup, while Uganda host the inaugural CECAFA U-20 Women’s Challenge Cup. Rwanda will also host the CECAFA Women’s Challenge Cup and the CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup heads to Sudan.