CECAFA
History made in Somalia as first soccer match televised
History was made in Somalia when the first football match in the country’s history has been watched live on Thursday. The military club [Horseed] won the General Da’ud Cup final match after beating their rivals, the Somali police-owned club of Heegan 2-1.
Thursday’s match is recorded as the most watched Somali football game in history as millions of Somalis in and outside the country were watching it on TV, while tens of thousands turned up for the match at stadium Banadir.
Both teams were fully prepared for the match which local media voted as ‘the most hotly-contested’ football game in Somalia ever.
The police club [Heegan] who are the current champions of the country scored the lone goal in the 32nd minute of the match when Deeq Abdullahi Nur AKA Aariyo, placed a beautiful shoot into the opponents’ goal, ending the first half 1-0 in favor of Heegan FC.
Horseed stepped up their attacks to compensate for the goal, but one of their playmakers, Robert Kareithi Meme [Kenya] was awarded with a red car in the 34th minute. However, that didn’t stop his side from moving on, as Adaani Barre Isse, did score the equalizing goal for his team in the 49th minute.
Daniel Matengo [Kenya] scored the winning goal for his team in the 60th minute of the match. Heegan didn’t despair of trying to equalize, but they lost several opportunities which could have made them at least a goal.
The 2-1 victory for Horseed was already predicted by football journalist Mohamed Barre. “My prediction of the final match result is that Horseed will win 2-1” the Minneapolis-based journalist said on Tuesday.
Somali minister for youth and sport, Mohamed Abdullahi, described the first televised football match in the country as a ‘big step’ forward.
“Today I am more than happy. The first live match in Somalia shows we are moving forward” the minister for youth and sport Mohamed Abdullahi said while talking to the media at the stadium after the end of the first half.
“I praise the Somali Football Federation authorities for their professional organization. Football is playing a big role in the country’s development, peace building and income generation” the minister said while standing alongside the president of Somali Football Federation, Abdiqani Said Arab.
The president said that the live coverage was a test that his federation can televise a match saying it went on successfully. “This was a starting point and we have understood that we can put live matches on air. I know it is a hard work which needs much money, but we are committed to continuing it” the president said.
“In the months to come, we will at least try to have some of the hottest matches televised and I am sure we will finally approach our target which is to get every Somalia match screened live” said president Abdiqani Said Arab.
Somalia has realized this major approach and other developments made in the country, as the young age president has only been in the leadership officer for less than 14 months.
Somali parliament member, Mustafa Sheikh Ali Dhuhulow, who was one of several government officials at the stadium, told the media that football is now making Somalia recover from past wounds.
“A window of progress and public integration has been opened by the Somali Football Federation. This is an encouraging move” the law maker said. “I am a fan for Heegan, but I don’t mind if we have been defeated. It is a football, so you can win or lose” added Mr. Dhuhulow who is one of the most football-bad government officials.
However, apart from the trophy, the winners were awarded with 45 million Somali shillings as prize money, while Heegan FC received 25 million Somali shillings for the second place.
The Football Kenya Federation (FKF) has today unveiled Benni McCarthy as the new national team head coach.
The unveiling of the new coach attended by several officials from FKF, government, sponsors and legends took place this afternoon at the Serena Hotel in Nairobi.
McCarthy who signed a two-year contract will work alongside fellow South Africans Vasilli Manausakis (Assistant coach), Moeneeb Josephs (goalkeepers coach) and Pilela Maposa (Performance Analyst) takes over from Francis Kimanzi who has been the Harambee Stars coach on an interim basis.
The new coach will go straight to work with his first games in charge being in the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers against Gabon and Gambia this month.
“I am delighted to be here and can’t wait to get started to make Kenya one of the best Football teams,” said the former Bafana Bafana striker who was also joint top scorer at the 1998 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) with Egypt’s Hossam Hassan.
He also made it clear that he wants to take all the experience he has garnered working in Europe and in South Africa and put it into practice to make the Kenyan team very competitive and strong. “With the right leaders, right coaches and right work ethics I don’t think that there is anything that can stop us from succeeding with the Kenyan national team,” added McCarthy.
Hussein Mohammed, the FKF President said although many coaches applied for the job, they picked on McCarthy because he has the exposure in Europe and Africa and has the fire in the belly, and the passion that Kenya needs.
“Given his exposure and of course with all the support from the stakeholders, McCarthy will take the Kenyan team far,” added the FKF President who was flanked by his Vice President McDonald Mariga.
McCarthy who won the UEFA Champions League with Porto in 2004 as a player has managed South African sides Cape Town City and AmaZulu FC. He served as an assistant coach at Sint Truiden in Belgium, and was first-team coach in-charge of strikers at Manchester United under Dutch manager Erik Ten Hag.
The Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) has officially opened the bidding process for their competitions for the 2025 calendar.
The bidding process was officially opened by CECAFA on February 4th with the deadline of submission being February 21st, 2025.
Yusuf Mossi, the CECAFA Competitions Director made it clear in the document that any Member Association that will be interested in hosting any tournament must meet all requirements in the bidding process.
“In order to be considered to host any of the competitions, kindly compete the attached bid documents clearly indicating which competition and submit to CECAFA by February 21st, 2025,” said part of the document.
The bid includes expression of interest, host bid questionnaire and the Budget document. CECAFA will announce the host Member Associations of the various competitions on March 3rd, 2025.
The seven tournaments lined up for the 2025 calendar include; CECAFA Beach Soccer Championship to take place in Kilifi County in Kenya, CECAFA Senior Women’s Challenge Cup, CECAFA Senior men’s Challenge Cup, Dar Port Kagame Cup in Tanzania, CAF Women’s Champions League qualifiers, CECAFA U-17 Boys Championship and CAF African Schools Football Championship.
The CECAFA Ordinary Assembly has approved seven tournaments to be staged by the Zone in the 2025 calendar.
During the non-elective Ordinary General Assembly held at the Imperial Plaza Hotel in Juba, South Sudan on Wednesday, the delegates approved the five competitions.
Auka John Gecheo who presented the competitions report on behalf of the chairman of the Committee Isayas Jira Bosho, pointed out that the tournaments have been planned after considering the different CAF and FIFA tournaments on the International calendar.
The Zonal body agreed to have the inaugural CECAFA Beach Soccer Competition in Kenya , while the CECAFA Senior Women’s Challenge and the CECAFA Senior Men’s Challenge Cup have also been lined up.
The Dar Port Kagame Cup 2025 will be expected to take place August 31st to September 14th, and the CAF Women’s Champions League, CECAFA qualifiers. The Member Association the hosts the CECAFA U-17 Boys Championship will also be expected to host the CAF African Schools Football Championship qualifiers.
However, Member Associations have been asked to apply to host any of the tournaments that have been planned to run in the 2025 calendar.
Ethiopia’s U-20 side defeated Djibouti 2-0 in an international friendly match played at the Abebe Bikila Stadium on Monday.
The two teams used the match to prepare ahead of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) U-20 CECAFA qualifiers slated for October 6-20th in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Nathael Solomon gave the hosts the lead after 43 minutes, and Degfie Alemu made it 2-0 three minutes into the second half.
The Djibouti team tried to push ahead to find some goal but failed to beat the Ethiopian defending line.
The Zonal qualifiers will kick start with a Group A match between Sudan and Djibouti at the Azam Complex, while hosts Tanzania will battle Kenya in a Group A match at the KMC Stadium the same day.
The 2022 runners-up South Sudan will open their Group B campaign against Burundi at the KMC Stadium, while reigning champions Uganda face Ethiopia in a match to be played at the Azam Complex all on October 7th. Tanzania will return to action on October 8th against Djibouti, the same day Sudan face Rwanda.
Nine teams will participate in the tournament with the best two teams qualifying to represent the Zone at the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations U-20 2025.
Group A: Tanzania, Sudan, Rwanda, Djibouti, Kenya
Group B: Uganda, South Sudan, Burundi, Ethiopia
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