Africa-Press – Tanzania. The Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) has pointed out that teams which will compete in the 2021 CECAFA Kagame Cup are eligible to feature new players they have signed.
Dar es Salaam is all set to host this year’s Kagame Cup slated to kickoff off tomorrow where a total of eight teams have conceded to contest.
However, speaking yesterday in the city, the federation’s Competitions Director Salum Madadi disclosed that according to the policies governing the competition, teams can deploy their newly signed players.
“We believe that if they will feature new players, that will help to add value to the competition because in the end, we all want to experience good football,” Madadi said.
Tanzania will be represented by the reigning champions Azam and Young Africans who will fight hard to ensure that the title stay put in the country by standing tall in their matches.
On the other hand, Simba, who are the most successful club in Kagame Cup after clinching it six times will not be part of the feast as their players are reportedly on a break after a jam-packed 2020/21 season.
Their counterparts Yanga who are packed in Pool A together with Express FC (Uganda), Nyasa Big Bullets (Malawi) and Atlabara FC (South Sudan) have named goalkeeping coach Razack Siwa as the one who will take charge of the team throughout the competition. He replaces the team’s Head Coach Nasreddine Nabi and his assistants who have gone for a brief break to their respective countries and will be back when they start to prepare for the next season.
Yanga will begin their campaign tomorrow by facing Nyasa Big Bullets at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam while the opening game will see Express FC taking on Atlabara FC at the same venue. On Monday, two games in Pool B will be played at Chamazi Complex whereby Messenger Ngozi will host KMKM before witnessing KCCA taking on Azam in the last fixture of the day.
Both Yanga and Azam will use the competition to test their arsenal prior to their international duels next season whereby the former and Simba will parade in the Champions League while the latter together with Biashara United will trade in CAF Confederation Cup.
For Azam, the Kagame Cup will be a good platform to weigh their squad as most of their newly signed domestic and foreign based players have already descended at the club ready to offer their contributions.
The Chamazi based club have lately accomplished deals of five players of whom four are from outside the country and one of them a Tanzanian.
They are Charles Zulu, Rodgers Kola, Kenneth Muguna, Edward Manyama and Paul Katema with all cleared to begin working for Azam in their upcoming fixtures.
