Simba, Atraco in Kagame opener

Mainland soccer champions Simba

Mainland soccer champions Simba meet holders Atraco in Kagame Cup opener to be played at the Amahoro Stadium in Kigali on May 17.

Simba will be back into action three days later to take on Kenya champions Sofapaka in their second match of the Group C at the same venue.

Their final group match will be against Uganda Revenue Authority on May 23 at the Nyamirabo Stadium with kick off time set at 15.00 hours.

The secretary general of the Council of East and Central African Football Associations, Cecafa, Nicholas Musonye said all matches from the quarter-final stages will be played at the Amahoro Stadium.

APR football team will met Vital’O from Burundi in the tournament opener to be played at the Amahoro Stadium from 18.00 hours.

Two matches will be played on each day after the opener.

Musonye said each team is required to submit a line-up of 20 players and five officials ahead of the tournament.

The Cecafa official said so far only Zanzibar champions Mafunzo and Telkom from Djibouti have submitted their line-ups.

Each Cecafa-member country is required to pay an annual subscription fees of $1,000 and competing teams $400.

Prize package fund for the championship totals $60,000 with the winners taking home half of the amount and one third for the losing finalists.

Third placed team would earn $10,000.

Of the twelve teams to compete in the championship, DRC’s TP Mazembe and Nigeria’s Heartland are featuring as invitees.

Holders Atraco will have an opportunity to plot title retention bid with full home ground advantage.

The team stunned fans in the region after winning the title as they shipped hosts El Merreikh before their home supporting fans in Khartoum albeit losing by 6-0 goals to the same opponent at group stages.

Rwanda President Paul Kagame has continued to provide support to Cecafa through his steady donation of the prize fund package.

Beside the prize fund package, the Rwanda Government in collaboration with other domestic based sponsors have set (aside) a staggering $1,000,000 to facilitate the smooth running of the tournament.

Simba were the inaugural winners of the tournament way back in 1974 and have posted a record seven times thereafter, including back-to back wins in 1991/2.