Football Kenya Federation Premier League (FKFPL) side Tusker FC have withdrawn from the regional CECAFA Kagame Cup set to take place from 1 to 14 August 2021 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.The eleven-time Kenyan champions had been pooled alongside Tanzania’s Azam FC and Atlabara from South Sudan, but the development saw CECAFA reorganize the groups and make-do with two pools of four teams each, with the top two teams in each pool proceeding to the semifinals.Tusker’s participation was in limbo from the word go with their Chairman Daniel Aduda earlier saying that they were focused to play their remaining league fixtures.CECAFA Kagame Cup: Tusker’s participation still in doubt“The federation is better placed to give the way forward in as far as our participation in the Kagame Cup is concerned as we are fully concentrated on playing our remaining league matches. The Cup is good but unfortunately, it starts at a time when our league is still on at is at a crucial stage,” Aduda told Mozzart Sport.Tusker pull out of the Cecafa Kagame Cup pic.twitter.com/P3ul2ymnxP— Ole Teya (@Kevin_teya) July 30, 2021 FKF CEO Barry Otieno backed Aduda’s sentiments, saying that the Federation’s main priority was seeing the league to the end successfully and thus they had requested CECAFA to consider changing the start date for the tournament, adding that Kenya might miss a representative in the case the regional body stuck to the date.“We have requested CECAFA to move the tournament to after 21st August when our league (FKFPL) will be over but we are yet to get feedback. Our (federation) priority is ensuring the league ends successfully and therefore if CECAFA doesn’t switch the dates, then we (Kenya) might not have a representative in the Kagame Cup,” said the former Communications chief at the federation.The withdrawal means that Kenya will not have a representative at the regional set-piece with the Federation having only forwarded the Brewers name.Pool A: Young Africans (Tanzania), Nyasa Big Bullets (Malawi), Express FC (Uganda), Atlabara FC (South Sudan)Pool B: KCCA FC (Uganda), Azam FC (Tanzania), Le Messager Ngozi (Burundi), KMKM FC (Zanzibar).
