East African Business Week (Kampala)
John David
13 August 2007
Bujumbura — While CECAFA will be toasting their achievement as the first affiliate of CAF to host an international competition on artificial-turf, four member countries will be missing out of the historical event for various reasons.
Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Sudan will not be in Bujumbura to participate in region's premier soccer fiesta, the CECAFA Under-17 youth soccer tournament due August 18 to 27 after failing to prepare teams for the youth event in time due to technical and financial problems.
The event will be the stage for writing and re-writing the regions' soccer history since all the teams will be playing on artificial surface for the first time.
Burundi's National Stadium, which has been undergoing renovation for a while, is now all spruced- up and is set for the major event, its first since acquiring the new-look.
The renovation works on the facility gobbled millions of Burundi Franc that can only be matched to its current state-of-the-art billing-complete with all the modern facilities as per the world soccer governing body Fifa requirements.
CECAFA will also be looking to score another first later in the year when it plans to host the first regional women's soccer competition under its banner in Zanzibar from October 20 to 28.
Africa's soccer umbrella body CAF has already given some $18,000 towards the event whose prospects look bright.
The stakes are higher for participating states, as the winner will also go down into the annals of history as the first to lift the trophy at inception.
While it is not possible to mark out the clear favourites in the tourney Kenya is certainly not one of them thanks to its conspicuous distinction as the only country that lacks a well-established youth team.
Kenya disbanded her youth team two-years ago immediately after the ignoniomous ban slapped on her by Fifa for fielding over-age players during qualifiers for world youth championships.
By and large, the event will serve to show which countries have been serious with their youth soccer programmes. The final results will be the yardstick.
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