The Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (, , , ; officially abbreviated as CECAFA) is an association of the football playing nations in mostly

East Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...

and parts of

Central Africa Central Africa (French language, French: ''Afrique centrale''; Spanish language, Spanish: ''África central''; Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''África Central'') is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries accordin ...

. An affiliate of the

Confederation of African Football The Confederation of African Football (CAF) is the administrative and controlling body for association football, beach soccer, and futsal in Africa. It was established on 8 February 1957 at the ''Grand Hotel'' in Khartoum, Sudan. At the FIFA Co ...

(CAF), CECAFA is the oldest sub-regional football organisation on the continent.

History

CECAFA was founded unofficially in 1927. The competition was sponsored by the major

Nairobi Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...

-based soap-manufacturing firm Gossage, owned by the British

Lever Brothers Lever Brothers was a British manufacturing company founded in 1885 by two brothers: William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme, William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), and James Darcy Lever (1854–1916). They invested in and su ...

. Its formation is often misattributed to William Gossage, founder of the Gossage company. However, he died 50 years before the CECAFA was established. The tournament was known as the "Gossage Cup" until the mid-sixties, when it was redubbed the "East African Challenge Cup".its consisted of only 12 teams CECAFA's head offices are in Nairobi,

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

. The first tournament was contested between

and

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

, which saw the Kenyan squad win the two legs 3–1 on aggregate.

Member associations

All associations that joined in 1973 were founding members of CECAFA. *

Union of Arab Football Associations The Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA; ; ) is the governing body of football in the Arab League. Established in 1974, UAFA is an independent body comprising 22 member associations: twelve from Asia and ten from Africa. UAFA organises a n ...

(UAFA) members are marked with an asterisk

Broadcasting rights

In 2007, television rights for the tournament were sold to GTV. Since 2009, broadcasting of CECAFA competitions has been taken over by SuperSport.

History

Member associations

Broadcasting rights

Competitions

Current title holders

See also

References

External links