The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
Majuto Omary
14 November 2007
Arusha was yesterday named the second venue of next month's East and Central African Senior Challenge Cup. Ethiopia, Sudan and Zanzibar will play their matches at Sheikh Amri Abeid Stadium during the two-week championship scheduled to kick off on December 8.
Nicholas Musonye, secretary-general of the Council of East and Central African Football Associations (Cecafa), said teams in groups 'A' and 'B' would play their matches in Dar es Salaam as previously arranged.
Group 'A' comprises Tanzania Mainland, Kenya, Burundi and Somalia, while Group 'B' has Rwanda, Uganda, Eritrea and Djibouti.
It was earlier announced that all matches would be played in Dar es Salaam to make it easier for pay TV channel GTV to air live broadcasts of the tournament.
GTV recently signed a four-year sponsorship agreement with Cecafa worth $6 million (Sh7.2 billion), making it the biggest such deal in East Africa.
Meanwhile, 14 referees will officiate the championship. They include Victor Mwandike and Soud Abdi of Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar's Omar Kombo.
The list also includes Alfred Ndinya, Silvester Likhotyo (Kenya), Ali Kalyango, Hussein Bugembe (Uganda), Emmanuel Eyob (Eritrea), Luleseket Pekashoo (Ethiopia) and Jean Nzeymana (Rwanda).
Others are Charles Ndimbangakiste (Burundi), Mohamed Omar (Somalia), Abdulkadir Omar (Djibouti) and Mohamed Abdulrahman Khalid (Sudan).
Musonye said the referees had been selected on merit based on recommendations of Cecafa member countries.
He added that Cecafa would like to see the competition run strictly in accordance with the rules of the game, adding that the council was confident that the 14 officials were up to the task.
"As you know, the Senior Challenge Cup will be televised live, and soccer fans and other stakeholders should be looking forward to flawless officiating. That is why we have picked our best referees who we believe will do a good job."
Musonye said all referees were scheduled to have arrived in Dar es Salaam by December 5 ahead of the December 8 kickoff pitting Tanzania Mainland against Kenya at the National Stadium.
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