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CECAFA Cup shows me how little I know about our global game

Graham Fisher in Editorial, General Soccer News 2 Jan 2009

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My New Years resolution was to try not to be so blinkered about football around the world. Like most people in England I often struggle to see very far beyond the English Premier League. We think it is the best league in the world and football elsewhere is always sub-standard.

Shock

Now, I know that isn’t true and I love all football, but it can be very easy to become xenophobic about football. I think I am reasonably knowledgeable about the game around the world but I got a shock today when I read about the currently on going CECAFA Cup tournament in Uganda.

The shock I got was that I had never heard of the CECAFA Cup. It must be a new tournament I thought. Well, it turns out that it is the oldest football tournament on the African continent. I am suitably ashamed that my narrow minded view of football had so far managed to absent this tournament from my apparently limited football knowledge.

South America

If I was asked to list the top tournaments in the world I would probably go for the World Cup, European Championships, Champions League, English Premier League, Uefa Cup, FA Cup, etc. If I was making a long enough list I would get to La Liga and Serie A eventually. I might even mention the African Cup of Nations at some point, but it is unlikely that South America, with their great club sides, national sides and history, would even get a mention. One thing for sure is that until today, I definitely wouldn’t have mentioned the CECAFA Cup.

So, as I say, my belated New Years resolution is to remove my blinkers and take in more of the worldwide game. Why not start with this tournament?

CECAFA stands for the Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations. The participating countries include Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Zanzibar, Somalia, Rwanda, Burundi and Djibouti.

1926

The tournament has existed in some form since 1926 although it has only been in its present incarnation since 1973. It has been played thirty-one times since 1973 with the current tournament being the thirty second.

The team with the most tournament successes are the current hosts, Uganda, with nine titles. Kenya with five and Ethiopia with four are the next most successful.

Surprise

In the current tournament, Uganda had a surprise 4-0 win over last season’s runners up Rwanda. In the other game in their group, Zanzibar beat Somalia 2-0.

In the other group, the current holders, Sudan, were held 0-0 by Kenya and Zambia ran out easy 3-0 winners against the minnows from Djibouti.

Interest in the tournament will no doubt pick up now in Uganda with their team having such an emphatic win in their game.

Richest

The tournament is not one of the richest in the world when you see that the winners will walk away with just US $30,000. Not much compared to the millions of pounds or Euros up for grabs in other competitions.

Having said that, the likes of Kenya, Sudan and Zambia are all using the competition as preparation for the final phase of the World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, which begin in March.

They are the tournaments that really matter to those countries, but the CECAFA Cup is an important part of their season as well.

Outlook

I shall be keeping an eye on the outcome of this tournament and also trying to broaden my horizons generally when it comes to football. I still think that the English Premier League is mostly, ‘where its at,’ but I want to have a broader outlook.

I wonder how many other tournaments there are out there that have a huge following, mean a lot to the participants and have been going for decades that I have never heard of?

Clueless

I am pretty clueless about football in South America, Africa and Asia. Well, also Australia and North America. OK, I only know about Europe. Well, some of Europe.

Am I alone in this or do we all follow one game with little thought for the rest? Football is a global game and I for one am going to try to be a global fan!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Graham Fisher


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  • mugambe paul

    0 0

    This is the time we uganda’s are to rift our country grobaly
    by taking the cecafa challage cup
    let us join our hands and we pray for uganda to beat rwanda this time.

  • RTS/Runningball

    0 0

    Hello football lovers,

    I work for a live broadcast company and we are looking for people to cover games in the CECAFA Cup taking place in Kenya ! That’s done via cell phones.
    Any interest ? You can write to me to alex_runningball@yahoo.fr

    Thank you.

  • the Ugandan...

    0 0

    It’s that time of the year again. The CECAFA tournament is on. This time COSAFA members Zambia and Zimbabwe agreed to compete. These teams along with Malawi used to be regulars in the 1980s before they broke away to join COSAFA.

    Will Uganda win it again?

    I remember the penalties between Uganda and Kenya ( I forgot the actual year). Kenya had Muhamood Abbas in goal! As good as Peter Cech at Chelsea right now. Uganda had Paul Ssali in goal another great goalie. I was a kid but almost got a Heart Attack! Uganda had strikers like Kamoga who had a bullet of a shot that at a previous cup had ripped a net!
    Danger man Katerrega would have been a nightmare for any goalie worldwide. Against any other team it would have been a walk over. But Abbas was in goal there were no guarantees.

    I have since seen other exciting & important tournaments but none with as much drama or skill. Not even the Euro Champs league final against ManU & Chelsea. Heck, that was kid’s stuff!

    But then Thomas Nkono one of the best ever World Cup goalies, is not well known either.

  • Solomon Ssenkubuge

    0 0

    I AM pleased to hear that Uganda won the CECAFA 2009, thanks for this page i didn’t really know that much about this tournament as well, although i would have really loved to see them go a bit further in the race for the world cup, i know they are capable and this year i think they really tried. Well too bad i have already broken my new year resolutions.

  • Jude Kagoro

    0 0

    This is a very interesting football debate, i for one grew up following CECAFA with all the passion it deserves and am happy my own country Uganda has found it so easy to win this tornament several times. I dont even seem to remember the last time Uganda failed to reach the last four of this cup. Interesting enough Uganda has always fielded second string sides but they still win. A point in case is this years version in which Uganda has fielded only two first team players and can still beat they likes of Rwanda 4-0. The tornment has been a modeling arena for many teams including Zambia who are nolonger a member coutry their participation in the current version notwithstanding. Teams in the region have tramendously improved (e.g Rwanda beating Morrocco 3-1, Uganda beating Nigeria, Angola, Benin etc) in world cup qualifier, furthermore teams like Uganda and Kenya are even ranked higher than the likes of South Africa on FIFA rankings. To the soccer lovers in Europe, there is much more in Africa despite your media concetrating on war and starvation.

  • Karumba

    0 0

    Bobby Bowl,
    Thank you for the insightful. your knowledge in football especially Africa is unquestionable. Surely, there are some people who think Africa is just a country especially from the western world; i call it the ignorance of highest order.
    To day, most managers in the premier league are in romance with African players because of their skills, pace and athleticism in football. this talent is nurtured from the local leagues.

  • Bobby Bowl

    0 0

    Not surprising at all. A lot of people would even go as far as asking if these countries even have national teams, and some would not even know the countries exist (A surprising number of people think Africa is a country).

    The fact is, every country in the world has a national football team, and almost every country in the world has a national football league and cup competitions just like England. The quality in England is obviously better because of all the money involved and the attention it receives. But the big African players in the World Cup, the likes of Samuel Eto’o, Abedi Pele, Roger Milla, etc – all started their careers in the leagues of Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria et al before they joined the cash-filled European leagues. Without the domestic set-up back in the African countries, they would not have been discovered, and a lot of European leagues would be worse off because of it.

    As far as African national teams are concerned, it is one of the better endowed continents with respect to competitions. Not only does it have the African Nations Cup for all countries (along with U-20 and U-17 championships), it also has a Women’s Championship, and also the All Africa Games (a sort of African Olympics) has a football competition (although the men’s competition is not for full national teams nowadays).
    Below this, the African continent is split into sub-regions, most of which also have their own championship for national teams – The COSAFA Cup (for the Southern African countries), the CECAFA Championship – mentioned above – (for Eastern Africa), the CEMAC Cup (for Central Africa), the Amílcar Cabral Cup (for Far-West Africa) and the Indian Ocean Island Games (for, obviously, the Indian Ocean Islands – Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Comoros, Réunion and Mayotte – the last two of which are not even members of FIFA – but still manage to field national teams, and have a domestic setup too). And that is just Africa……. Asia has just as many tournaments for national teams.

    In fact, Europe and South America are the 2 continents with the least number of competitions for national teams (only 2 each – including the World Cup qualification).

    I hope you enjoy your enlightenment, and not just in footballing terms. Now I am off to find somebody else who is eager to see São Tomé & Príncipe play their first international match in over 5 years so they can stop being the only one of FIFA’s 208 members who does not appear in the FIFA ranking…….

  • Karumba

    0 0

    It is good that one of your new year’s resolution is to broaden your knowledge much more about football in other regions.
    You are not alone in this circus of ignorance. most Europeans are like that. they only know what is taking place at their back yard (self sustaining and self centered), which is not good anyway.

    The second reason is perhaps not your fault. CECAFA tournament just of recent (mostly sponsored by Mr. Kagame the president of Rwanda and now GTV cable channel) have never had enough sponsors and as a result the tournament could go on unnoticed. Now thanks to Kagame and the British GTV who are big sponsors now.
    May be to help you understand more, Rwanda also qualified for the next stage of African nations qualifiers.

    Otherwise for a guy like me leaving in Rwanda, i not only follow the major European football leagues (premier league being the most popular whether you are in the North or Southern hemisphere) , but also leagues like the coca cola Championships are well known to most of us because of our keen interest to “know all”.

    Good resolutions for you.

  • Karumba

    0 0

    It is good that one of your new year’s resolution is to broaden your knowledge much more about football in other regions.
    You are not alone in this circus of ignorance. most Europeans are like that. they only know what is taking place at their back yard (self sustaining and self centered), which is not good anyway.

    The second reason is perhaps not your fault. CECAFA tournament just of recent (mostly sponsored by Mr. Kagame the president of Rwanda and now GTV cable channel) have never had enough sponsors and as a result the tournament could go on unnoticed. Now thanks to Kagame and the British GTV who are big sponsors now.
    May be to help you understand more, Rwanda also qualified for the next stage of African nations qualifiers.

    Otherwise for a guy like me leaving in Rwanda, i not only follow the major European football leagues (premier league being the most popular whether you are in the North or Southern hemisphere) , but also leagues like the coca cola Championships are well known to most of us because of our keen interest to “know all”.

    Good resolutions for you.

  • Bobby Bowl

    0 0

    Not surprising at all. A lot of people would even go as far as asking if these countries even have national teams, and some would not even know the countries exist (A surprising number of people think Africa is a country).

    The fact is, every country in the world has a national football team, and almost every country in the world has a national football league and cup competitions just like England. The quality in England is obviously better because of all the money involved and the attention it receives. But the big African players in the World Cup, the likes of Samuel Eto’o, Abedi Pele, Roger Milla, etc – all started their careers in the leagues of Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria et al before they joined the cash-filled European leagues. Without the domestic set-up back in the African countries, they would not have been discovered, and a lot of European leagues would be worse off because of it.

    As far as African national teams are concerned, it is one of the better endowed continents with respect to competitions. Not only does it have the African Nations Cup for all countries (along with U-20 and U-17 championships), it also has a Women’s Championship, and also the All Africa Games (a sort of African Olympics) has a football competition (although the men’s competition is not for full national teams nowadays).
    Below this, the African continent is split into sub-regions, most of which also have their own championship for national teams – The COSAFA Cup (for the Southern African countries), the CECAFA Championship – mentioned above – (for Eastern Africa), the CEMAC Cup (for Central Africa), the Amílcar Cabral Cup (for Far-West Africa) and the Indian Ocean Island Games (for, obviously, the Indian Ocean Islands – Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Comoros, Réunion and Mayotte – the last two of which are not even members of FIFA – but still manage to field national teams, and have a domestic setup too). And that is just Africa……. Asia has just as many tournaments for national teams.

    In fact, Europe and South America are the 2 continents with the least number of competitions for national teams (only 2 each – including the World Cup qualification).

    I hope you enjoy your enlightenment, and not just in footballing terms. Now I am off to find somebody else who is eager to see São Tomé & Príncipe play their first international match in over 5 years so they can stop being the only one of FIFA’s 208 members who does not appear in the FIFA ranking…….

  • Karumba

    0 0

    Bobby Bowl,
    Thank you for the insightful. your knowledge in football especially Africa is unquestionable. Surely, there are some people who think Africa is just a country especially from the western world; i call it the ignorance of highest order.
    To day, most managers in the premier league are in romance with African players because of their skills, pace and athleticism in football. this talent is nurtured from the local leagues.

  • Jude Kagoro

    0 0

    This is a very interesting football debate, i for one grew up following CECAFA with all the passion it deserves and am happy my own country Uganda has found it so easy to win this tornament several times. I dont even seem to remember the last time Uganda failed to reach the last four of this cup. Interesting enough Uganda has always fielded second string sides but they still win. A point in case is this years version in which Uganda has fielded only two first team players and can still beat they likes of Rwanda 4-0. The tornment has been a modeling arena for many teams including Zambia who are nolonger a member coutry their participation in the current version notwithstanding. Teams in the region have tramendously improved (e.g Rwanda beating Morrocco 3-1, Uganda beating Nigeria, Angola, Benin etc) in world cup qualifier, furthermore teams like Uganda and Kenya are even ranked higher than the likes of South Africa on FIFA rankings. To the soccer lovers in Europe, there is much more in Africa despite your media concetrating on war and starvation.

  • Solomon Ssenkubuge

    0 0

    I AM pleased to hear that Uganda won the CECAFA 2009, thanks for this page i didn’t really know that much about this tournament as well, although i would have really loved to see them go a bit further in the race for the world cup, i know they are capable and this year i think they really tried. Well too bad i have already broken my new year resolutions.

  • the Ugandan...

    0 0

    It’s that time of the year again. The CECAFA tournament is on. This time COSAFA members Zambia and Zimbabwe agreed to compete. These teams along with Malawi used to be regulars in the 1980s before they broke away to join COSAFA.

    Will Uganda win it again?

    I remember the penalties between Uganda and Kenya ( I forgot the actual year). Kenya had Muhamood Abbas in goal! As good as Peter Cech at Chelsea right now. Uganda had Paul Ssali in goal another great goalie. I was a kid but almost got a Heart Attack! Uganda had strikers like Kamoga who had a bullet of a shot that at a previous cup had ripped a net!
    Danger man Katerrega would have been a nightmare for any goalie worldwide. Against any other team it would have been a walk over. But Abbas was in goal there were no guarantees.

    I have since seen other exciting & important tournaments but none with as much drama or skill. Not even the Euro Champs league final against ManU & Chelsea. Heck, that was kid’s stuff!

    But then Thomas Nkono one of the best ever World Cup goalies, is not well known either.

  • RTS/Runningball

    0 0

    Hello football lovers,

    I work for a live broadcast company and we are looking for people to cover games in the CECAFA Cup taking place in Kenya ! That’s done via cell phones.
    Any interest ? You can write to me to alex_runningball@yahoo.fr

    Thank you.

  • mugambe paul

    0 0

    This is the time we uganda’s are to rift our country grobaly
    by taking the cecafa challage cup
    let us join our hands and we pray for uganda to beat rwanda this time.

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