The Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) has announced that the world football governing body FIFA will sponsor four of their tournaments this year.
Nicholas Musonye, CECAFA Secretary General, told Xinhua on Wednesday that the development comes after they lobbied through the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
"We are happy that the region will have several tournaments played this year with support from FIFA," Musonye told Xinhua.
He said FIFA has agreed to fully sponsor the U-17 and CECAFA Women's Challenge Cup that will take place in Burundi and Rwanda respectively in April.
He also made it clear that FIFA will finance the Beach Soccer and Women U-20 Championships that will take place in Uganda in September.
"We are optimistic that with FIFA's support we shall have even better organised and competitive tournaments," added Musonye.
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During his campaign to become FIFA president, Gianni Infantino mentioned that he would give every regional body like CECAFA and Cosafa $1 million for development purposes. Last year the CECAFA region did not get support from FIFA.
Musonye said since the region has been struggling to find sponsorship to stage some of these tournaments, FIFA's support will be a very big boost.
He said besides the tournaments that will be supported by FIFA, the regional body is also working hard to make sure the CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup and the Kagame Club Championships also get sponsors.
--IANS
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