Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations

The Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) is an association of the football playing nations in Eastern Africa. It is also an affiliate of CAF.

It is arguably the oldest sub-regional football organisation in Africa.

Members

•  Burundi - 1998
•  Djibouti - 1994
•  Eritrea - 1994
•  Ethiopia - 1983
•  Kenya - 1973
•  Rwanda - 1995
•  Somalia - 1973
•  Sudan - 1975
•  Tanzania - 1973
•  Uganda - 1973
•  Zanzibar - 1973

History

CECAFA was founded unofficially in 1927 and the competitions were sponsored by major Nairobi based soap-manufacturing firm Gossage (owned by Lever). The formation of CECAFA is often falsely attributed to William Gossage, founder of the Gossage company but he died in 1877^[1], some 50 years before the first contest so it would not be possible.

What is known however, is that the tournament has very close links with Nairobi in Kenya and this is still where the CECAFA Office is based.

The first tournament was contested between Kenya and Uganda which saw Kenya win 3-1 on aggregate over the two legged affair.

The tournament became known as the "Gossage Cup" until the mid-sixties when it became known as the "East African Challenge Cup". Some sources suggest that the tournament had its name changed due to Kenya's new found independence in 1963.

Competitions

• CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup - contested between CECAFA associated nations
• CECAFA Club Cup - - contested between selected Clubs in CECAFA associated nations
• CECAFA U-17 Championship - - contested between CECAFA associated nations under 17 teams.

Television Rights

Since 2007, the television rights for this competition have been sold to GTV. ^[2]

Defunct Competition History

Gossage Cup (1926-1966)

Challenge Cup (1967-1971)

CECAFA Cup (1973-Present Day)

See CECAFA Cup for past winners.

External links

• www.cecafa.net - Official CECAFA Website
• CECAFA Facebook Fan Page
• Palmares Gossage Cup on RSSSF

References