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Women’s Football in CECAFA Zone is growing at fast rate – Auka Gecheo
The Executive Director of the Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) has said that he is impressed with the fast rate at which women’s football in the Zone is growing.
Auka Gecheo told Cecafaonline during an interview that over the past three years a lot has happened positively in the development and progress of Women’s football in the region.
Speaking at the sidelines of the on-going CAF Women’s Champions League – CECAFA Zone in Uganda, Gecheo said that many of the Member Associations are giving Women football a lot of attention and the changes are very visible.
” When you watch the quality and awareness in the Women’s Champions League qualifiers this year and compare it to 2021 there is a big difference. Women’s teams in the Zone are doing so much and always trying to get better, ” added the CECAFA Executive Director.
Gecheo said there is good growth in women’s football in the region with women playing quality football, having the technical ability and showing good tactical awareness on the pitch.
He made it clear that the fast rate at which women’s football is growing in the Zone speaks volumes about what the Member Associations and Clubs are doing. ” I actually think we stand a great chance of sending more women teams in the region to the international or global competitions, ” added Geceho.
The CECAFA Executive Director pointed out examples of teams like Tanzania’s U-17 who played at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in India last year, Simba Queens who reached the semi final stage of the 2022 CAF Women’s Champions League, and the national teams of Uganda and Burundi who played at the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.
Gecheo encouraged the Member Associations and clubs in the region to keep working hard to develop women’s football because he believes there is a lot of potential.
Uganda are the silver medalists in the concluded CAF African Schools Football Championship after losing out to Senegal 5-4 in post-match penalties whilst Ghana successfully defended their girls’ title with a 9-8 victory in post-match spot kicks Burkina Faso.
Losing out on Winner prize money of $300,000 Uganda who were represented by St Mary’s Kitende take home $200,000.
The first half of 20 Minutes ended in a deadlock with limited chances . It was the second half that produced opportunities for both sides with Uganda’s Shakur Ngobi blasting just over the bar from close range after being set up by Owen Mukisa. Ugandan goalkeeper Imran Ssebbale would then produce a fine save from Mamadou’s half volley to keep the match even.
The match would end in a draw and winner determined by post-match penalties. It was a similar ending for the girls category as Ghana successfully defended their girls’ title with a 9-8 victory in post-match spot kicks over fellow West Africans Burkina Faso after a goal-less draw.
The competition finals held at Ngoni stadium in Harare city, Zimbabwe was graced by CAF President Dr Patrice Motsepe and other dignitaries and is the fourth edition of the African Schools Programme that was launched way back in 2022.
Two member Associations of Rwanda and Tanzania will host some of the six CECAFA competitions planned for the 2026 season.
Jean Sseninde, the CECAFA Interim Executive Director on Tuesday announced the Member Associations that won hosting rights for the various tournaments.
Tanzania will host the season opening CECAFA U-17 Girls Championship May 30th to June 14th, 2026. Tanzania will also host the TotalEnergies CAF U-20 – CECAFA qualifiers to run August 22nd to September 6th.
Rwanda who last hosted a CECAFA competition five years ago will start by hosting the clubs tournament, the CECAFA Kagame Cup from July 18th to August 9th. The club tournament will also help teams in the Zone prepare ahead of the 2026/2027 CAF Champions League and the CAF Confederation Cup.
The CAF African Schools Football Championship – CECAFA qualifiers, CAF Women’s Champions League – CECAFA qualifiers, and the TotalEnergies CAF U-17 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) – CECAFA qualifiers will all be hosted by Rwanda.
“We are very excited and thank all the different Member Associations who applied to host the different CECAFA competitions,” says Sseninde.
CECAFA are also engaging sponsors and partners to be able to secure funds to be able to include the CECAFA Beach Soccer Championship and the CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup in the 2026 calendar.
CECAFA 2026 competitions
1 CECAFA U-17 Girls Championship May 30 – June 14
2 CECAFA Kagame Cup July 18 – August 9
3 CAF African Schools Football Championship – CECAFA Qualifiers July 22 – 25
4 AF Women’s Champions League – CECAFA Qualifiers August 22 – September 6
5 U-20 AFCON – CECAFA Qualifiers September 12 – 27
6 U-17 AFCON – CECAFA Qualifiers October 10-25
Not included yet
CECAFA Beach Soccer Championship July
CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup
Former Ugandan professional player David Obua has said Rogers Mato Kassim’s signing for Scottish Premiership side is a blessing to the player and Ugand.
The 22-year old winger finally signed for Hearts of Midlothian FC where Obua also featured several years ago.
“It is a good move for Mato and also for the country to have players going to certain kind of Leagues like Scotland because they are more competitive and aggressive.These a good times for Uganda once again,” Obua told Cecafaonline.
The former Uganda Cranes star player Obua played for Hearts FC 2008-2012.
Mato joins Hearts FC who are based in Edinburgh and are currently top of the Scottish Premiership, ahead of rivals Celtic FC by a few points.
The gifted Mato who is one of Uganda’s key strikers joined the Scottish side from North Macedonian club FK Vardar. Mato scored 12 goals in 13 games for FC Vardar before he traveled to join the Uganda national team in December for the Africa Cup of Nations.
“We are delighted to announce the signing of Rogers Mato,” said Hearts FC. The club head coach Derek McInnes said it was good that the Club signed Mato during this window. “He’s a livewire player, always looking to attack and cause the opposing defence problems,” said the coach on the club website.
Mato started his career featuring in the Youths set-up of Proline Academy and later graduated to play for Proline FC’s senior team and later KCCA FC before moving to the paid ranks.
In 2023 he moved to Turkish second Division side Şanlıurfaspor SC, and later Fudbalski Klub Akademija Pandev Brera Strumica in Macedonian.
Mato also scored a goal for Uganda in the 3-1 defeat to Nigeria in the recent Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) held in Morocco.
Ugandan forward John Paul Dembe netted a crucial equalizer to help his team BK Hacken qualify for the next round in the qualifiers of the UEFA Europa League on Thursday night.
The 20-year old came on after 63 minutes and scored to make it 2-2 for his Swedish team to eliminate FC Spartak Ternava 3-2 on aggregate.
Early in the week Dembe who was top scorer in the CAF U-20 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) Zonal qualifiers last year had also netted a brace for his team.
Dembe will return to action on July 24th when his team faces Anderlecht in the next round of the UEFA Europa League qualifiers.
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