Nairobi — The Council of East and Central Africa Football Association (Cecafa) senior challenge Cup kicks off in Nairobi and Mumias on Saturday.

The championship will bring together 11 teams from the region for a two-week tournament with Zambia and Zimbabwe having been admitted as guest teams. It is a major milestone in local football as it is exactly 14 years since Kenya last hosted a football tournament of this magnitude.

As hosts, Harambee Stars will be facing yet another formidable challenge just a week after its campaign to secure a ticket to the World Cup and Africa Nations Cup was scuttled by Nigeria.

The national team should focus on recapturing the regional title, which they last won in 2002 against Tanzania.

The organisers have handed the country a major confidence boost, bringing the tournament here at the height of the leadership wrangles between Football Kenya Ltd and Kenya Football Federation (KFF).

Cecafa Secretary-General Nicholas Musonye's decision to ignore both factions and stage a championship in Kenya deserves praise.

It is a long time since corporate sponsors helped, and it is gratifying that Cecafa got its Sh40 million budget from local companies and the government to run the championship.

This is an opportunity for local fand to recover from the shame of seeing their team being bundled out of the continental fiesta in Angola in January.