Rwanda will not participate in the upcoming Cecafa U-17 competition slated for Addis Ababa from October 1 to 14, 2022.

The junior Amavubi were scheduled to play in Group B alongside Uganda, Djibouti, Sudan and Burundi but they will not be at the youth tournament.

CECAFA, the ruling body of East African football announced on their website that Rwanda and Eritrea have communicated to them that they will not be present at the competition.

"Eritrea and Rwanda will not send teams to the U-17 Total Energies Africa Cup of Nations 2023 qualifiers for the Council of East and Central Africa Football Association region (CECAFA)," part of Cecafa&039;s statement stated.

"CECAFA has received communication from the Member Associations that they will not be able to send teams for the qualifiers in Addis Ababa," It added.

Times Sport understands that Rwanda's withdrawal was because many of the U-17 players are in school and it will be difficult to assemble them for the tournament.

The two finalists in the tournament will represent the Cecafa zone in the U-17 AFCON in Algeria in 2023.