Kagame Cup moves from Addis Ababa to Darfur

The 2013 regional football club championship, popularly known as the Kagame Cup, will now be held in Darfur region in western Sudan, and not in Addis Ababa as originally scheduled.

The announcement was made by the Confederation of East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) which confirmed that the tournament will take place in the troubled Darfur region after 15 June.

CECAFA said it switched the tournament venue from Addis Ababa to Sudan because Ethiopia was not ready to stage the event.

There are 12 clubs participating from 10 of the 12 member-countries. These are: Young Africans and Simba (Tanzania); Super Falcons (Zanzibar); El Merriekh, Al Hilal (Sudan); Tusker (Kenya); Express (Uganda); APR (Rwanda); Vital'O (Burundi); Ports (Djibouti); Elman (Somalia); El Nasr (South Sudan).

For the last two consecutive years, the Kagame Cup has been won by the Young Africans, a Dar es Salaam-based squad known locally as Yanga.

Since 2002 the main sponsor of the annual club championship is the controversial president of Rwanda, Paul Kagame who provides the $60,000 prize money. The winning club receives $30,000; runners-up get $20,000 while the third-placed team gets $10,000.

In addition to Kagame’s sponsorship, in 2012 Tanzania’s Quality Chemicals pledged to donate an extra $20,000 of prize money annually.