Bullets to take part in Cecafa Cup
Nyasa Big Bullets are set to take part in the East and Central Africa Club Championship, the Cecafa Kagame Cup, as guests.
The People’s Team chief administration manager Albert Chigoga yesterday confirmed their participation in the tournament from August 1 to 15 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, saying it will help them prepare for the CAF Champions League preliminary round.
He said: “We have confirmed our participation as guests. We believe the tournament will help us tune up for the CAF Champions League preliminaries since it features the cream from that region.”
Chigoga said they will thus ask for exemption from the domestic fixtures during that period.
“FAM [Football Association of Malawi] are already aware as the invitation came through them, but as for Sulom [Super League of Malawi], we will formally ask for an exemption from fixtures and we are hopeful that they will understand our situation,” he said.
FAM competitions and communications director Gomezgani Zakazaka yesterday confirmed that they are aware of the invitation and Bullets’ intention to participate.
However, at press time yesterday, Sulom general secretary Williams Banda could not be reached for comment.
Meanwhile, Goal.com reports that Kenya’s Gor Mahia are yet to confirm whether they will participate in the tournament while Tanzanian champions Simba, will not take part.
The host country will be represented by Yanga SC and Azam FC, who completed the 2020/21 season in second and third place respectively.
Although Ethiopia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Sudan, and Somalia are members of the Cecafa fraternity, none of their teams has indicated whether they will take part in the tournament.
Cecafa executive director Auka Gecheo is quoted as having said that the competition—the draw of which will be conducted on July 27—is geared towards helping participants prepare for CAF competitions.
“This tournament will help our teams in the region prepare for the CAF competitions that start in September. We shall also have a guest team from Malawi to spice up the tournament,” said the director.
Teams that have confirmed participation in the Cecafa Kagame Cup 2021 are Young Africans SC, Azam FC (Tanzania), Atlabara FC (South Sudan), Le Messager Ngozi FC (Burundi), APR (Rwanda), Express FC, KCCA FC (Uganda), Tusker FC (Kenya), KMKM SC (Zanzibar) and Big Bullets FC (Malawi).
KCCA are the defending champions having defeated Azam to lift the cup in 2019 in Rwanda.
Last year, the tournament was not held due to Covid-19.
