The South Sudan team will start their campaign against Uganda Cubs as the Zonal Africa Cup of Nations U-17 qualifiers kick-off on December 12^th in Rwanda.

Seven teams will take part in the qualifiers which will be held at the Umuganda Stadium in Rubavu District.

In the fresh draws conducted on Thursday hosts Rwanda will also battle against Tanzania in a Group B match on Saturday at the same venue.

The other Council of East and Central African Football Associations (Cecafa) member countries Eritrea, Sudan, Burundi did not send teams for the competition, while Somalia are still serving a ban after confirming participation and later failing to play in the Zonal Afcon U-17 qualifiers in 2018.

“We expect a very competitive tournament because teams have been preparing for some time,” said Yusuf Mosi, the Cecafa Director of Competitions.

The best two teams in the qualifiers will represent the region at the Afcon U-17 next year, March 12-31st in Morocco.

Group A: Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan

Group B: Rwanda, Djibouti, Tanzania

Tanzania’s Under-17 football team beat Somalia 2-0 to lift to the UNder 17 CECAFA Championship Cup in the finals match played on Sunday in Burundi.

The intrigues of the Cecafa U17 Championship Final completely overshadowed the bronze medal matchon Saturday at Urukundo Stadium in Buye, Ngozi where Uganda tore apart Kenya 4-1.

Tanzania fans who had streaked across the border into Burundi follow the semi-final action in Muyinga on Wednesday

Somalia had shocked defending champions Uganda Cubs 1-0 in one of the semi-final games at the on-going CECAFA U-17 Championship in Burundi.

The Somalia team handled by Salad Farah Hassan went on to defeat Kenya 1-0 in another group game and also drew goalless against the hosts Burundi.

The tournament that attracted Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia and hosts Burundi is fully sponsored by the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA).

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.

For the first time, the Cecafa U17 Championship was funded by Fifa under its “Fifa Forward Programme”, the beginning of support for Cecafa’s programmes from now on.  It has raised the rating of the tournament as one of the best staged in the region. The organisation also assisted by CAF information technology,  is certainly of efficiency unmatched

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.

Classic Tanzanian U17 team walloped Sudan 6-0 on Sunday evening to top Group ‘B’ on a three – goal difference ahead of Uganda and booked Kenya as their semifinal opponents to be played at Muyinga on Wednesday.

The result left defending champions Uganda pairing with Somalia for the second semifinal to be played in Gitega province the same day.  Tanzania that scored three goals in each half looked too good for Sudan from onset till the last whistle.

Team coach Kim Poulsen however watched the game from the pavilion following a suspension for consistently opposing the referee’s decision during their match against Uganda.

The finals are scheduled for next Sunday with the classification match on Saturday.

Results:

Tanzania (6) Sudan (0)

Semifinals (Wednesday)

Somalia Vs Uganda (Gitega)

Tanzania Vs Kenya (Muyinga)