Six countries have officially been confirmed to be taking part in the 2023 CECAFA U18 Women’s Championships set to kick off from 25 July to 6 August 2023 in Dar es Salaam.In the tournament fixtures released on Wednesday, the countries will face off each other in a single-round robin format from the opening day on 25 July – Match Day One, with the last head to head fixture being on 5 August 2023.##NAJAVA_MECA_7377789##Kenya, who are conspicuosly missing from the tournamnet, were initially meant to host the Championship from June 29th to July 11th in Nairobi, but the competition was pushed further ahead because of delay in funding.However, after CECAFA members met in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire last week on the sidelines of the CAF Ordinary Assembly, it was decided that the Championship be hosted by Tanzania at the Azam Complex Stadium.Young Lionesses intensify preparations ahead of Youth Commonwealth GamesInitially, Kenya’s Rising Starlets had been in camp for three weeks before Football Kenya Federation broke the camp due to delay in funding.Auka Gecheo, the CECAFA Executive Director however made it clear that Kenya would not take part in the Championship because of ongoing school games and later examinations around the same period.According to sources in Uganda, after a previous spell in camp that was later postponed due to the uncertainties, head coach Ayub Khalifa has selected up to 25 players expected to hit camp and travel to Tanzania in the coming weeks.Kenya pull out of the CECAFA U18 Women’s Cup.Six countries will take part.#FootballKE pic.twitter.com/GZbpWRF0YE— Ole Teya (@TeyaKevin) July 19, 2023 After the CECAFA U-18 Women’s Championship, the Zonal CAF Women’s Champions League qualifier will take place in Uganda from August 12-30th.The other tournaments expected to take place in the 2023 season include the CECAFA U-18 Boys Championship, the CECAFA U-15 Boys Championship, the CECAFA Kagame Cup, and the CECAFA U-23 Championship.The first CECAFA tournament of the season was initially penciled to take place on 3-17 June, before being pushed to start on 24 June all the way to 8 July. It was again changed to start from 29 June – 11 July 2023 but that also did not happen leading to another postponement until the latest confirmation.
