The Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) local organising committee has handed a greenlight to 25,000 fans ahead of the Under-23 tournament slated for Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.The tournament is slated for Saturday 17 July after initially being postponed from Saturday 3 July due to a number of countries in the region being placed under Covid-19 lockdown.Following a meeting by the local organising committee on Friday 9 July, CECAFA permitted 25,000 fans to attend the tourney in compliance with the Covid-19 protocols.The Local Organizing Comitte of #Cecafa approved 25,000 fan to attend the Cecafa tournament under Covid protocol which will start on July 17 Next week at Bahirdar International Stadium, Ethiopia.#Ethiopia pic.twitter.com/LhKqE1IypX— Kidus Yoftahe 🇪🇹 (@KYoftahe) July 9, 2021 “The Local Organizing Committee of Cecafa approved 25,000 fans to attend the Cecafa tournament under Covid protocol which will start on July 17 Next week at Bahirdar International Stadium, Ethiopia,” read a Tweet from Ethiopian journalist Kidus Yoftahe.This comes as a huge boost to the tournament with most of the countries in the East Africa region banning fans from stadiums in the local leagues to curb the spread of Covid-19.The recently concluded Ethiopian Premier League that was clinched by Fasil Kenema also had fans banned as the football in the country will witness fans for the first time since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.CECAFA is yet to conduct a draw for the tournament with head coach Stanley Okumbi stepping up his preparations for the tournament. Emerging Stars is set to leave for Ethiopia on July 14, 2021, to attend the regional tournament that now kicks off on July 17, 2021.
