Jamus Sports Club have retained the Zain South Sudan Cup edging El Merriekh SC Bentiu in the final played on Tuesday.

After the two teams failed to find the goals in the allotted 90 minutes at the Juba National Stadium, Jamus SC came out top winning 4-2 on penalty shoot-outs.

Jamus goalkeeper Majak Mawit Maling stopped two penalties to ensure his team recorded yet another win against their arch rivals.

Jamus head coach Jean Claude Loboko praised his players for winning the Cup. “Lifting this Cup means a lot to us as we now turn focus to the South Sudan Premier League,” added Loboko, also voted best coach of the competition.

Jamus SC secured a place in the final after ejecting Koryrom FC 2-0, while El Merriekh SC Bentiu saw off Aweil United FC 5-0.

The win also granted Jamus SC the opportunity to represent South Sudan at the CECAFA Dar Port Kagame Cup 2025 expected to take place in July in Tanzania.

Although they are placed third Jamus SC will also have a chance to win a double as they are unbeaten in the South Sudan Premier League.

The Awards ceremony was graced by the South Sudan Football Association (SSFA) President and Acting President of CECAFA, Augustino Parek Maduot, and other dignitaries.

Zain South Sudan are the sponsors of the 2024/2025 Zain South Sudan Cup which attracted over 30 teams.

The head coach of Simba SC Fadlu Davids has said his is still optimistic his team can tur tables when they face RS Berkane in the return leg of the 2024/2025 TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup final.

RS Berkane, the newly crowned Morocco Premier League champions defeated Simba SC 2-0 in the first leg of the final played at the Berkane Municipal Stadium on Saturday evening.

Mamadou Camara nodded in the opening goal after 8 minutes off a Hamza El Moussaoui corner, while Oussama Lamlaoui doubled Berkane’s lead six minutes later.

Simba SC were unlucky when Abdulrazack Hamza limped off injured before the interval. Leonel Ateba and Elie Mpanzu both came close to finding goals for the Tanzanian Premier League side, but the home side stood firm.

However, the Simba SC coach Fadlu Davids has made it clear that they still have a chance in the return leg on May 25^th.

“The final is played over two legs and we have a chance to get back to the drawing board and plan better. We conceded two early goals which put us on a back footing, but I am optimistic we can still perform better in the return leg,” added the coach.

Simba SC, finalists in this competition back in 1993 will be eager to ink a new record when they host the Moroccan team in the return leg of the final.

Tanzania suffered a 1-0 defeat to hosts Egypt in a Group A match played on Friday at the on-going TotalEnergies CAF U-20 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

The defeat was Tanzania’s fourth straight defeat at the competition which has brought together 13 teams.

Ahmed Sharaf gave Egypt an early lead at the Suez Canal Stadium in Ismailia.

Despite going down early in the match, Tanzania dominated more of the match and with 17 shooting attempts against Egypt’s seven.

Bakari Msimu and Jammy Simba had some decent scoring chances later in the match, but failed to finish.

Tanzania who followed Kenya out of the competition kick started their campaign with a 1-0 defeat to South Africa, lost by the same margin against Sierra Leone and suffered another 1-0 defeat to Zambia.

Egypt joined Ghana, South Africa, DR Congo, Nigeria, Senegal, Morocco and Sierra Leone at the quarter final stage.

The semi-finalists will qualify as the CAF representatives for the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup to take place in Chile.

The inaugural CECAFA 2025 Beach Soccer Championship will kick start the season for the Zone.

Kenya will host the inaugural Championship at the Pirates Beach from June 6-11, 2025.

Yusuf Mossi, the CECAFA Competitions Director made it clear that they expect eight teams to take part in the Championship.

“We have also sent out invites to other Member Associations outside our Zone and we we expect positive responses,” added Mossi.

He explained that the inaugural Beach Soccer Championship will lay good foundation for more Beach Soccer competitions in the CECAFA Zone.

“We already have Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Tanzania and Zanzibar who have confirmed participation and we expect more in the next few days,” added Mossi.

Besides the CECAFA Beach Soccer Championship, the other tournaments lined up include; CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup, Dar Port-Kagame Cup, CAF U-17 Zonal qualifier, CAF African Schools Football Championship Zonal Qualifier, CAF Women’s Champions League Zonal Qualifier and the CECAFA Women’s Challenge Cup.