The East and Central African Confederation (Cecafa) secretariat has named Arusha to host the Group C fixtures during the Senior Challenge Cup slated for December 8-22 in Tanzania.

Through an E-mail to Times Sport, the Cecafa Secretary General, Nicholas Musonye said that the decision to move Group C preliminary matches to Arusha was reached at during a meeting between the regional secretariat, the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) and sponsors, GTV on Thursday.

Announcing Arusha as an additional venue to this year’s action Musonye said that this will help in taking football to more Tanzanians.

"In picking Arusha, we considered other alternative venues; Mwanza and Morogoro who have had a fair share of Cecafa action in recent years  and that it was time to give Arusha people a chance to watch top flight football,” Musonye said that Sheikh Amri Abeid stadium in Arusha will host the three matches.

Musonye also appealed to the Tanzania Government to allow Cecafa use the new National Stadium for some of the tournament’s matches.

The stadium is yet to be officially opened for action but Musonye noted that it remains the most ideal venue for the big matches of the tournament.

"Considering that at least 10 of our matches will be broadcast live by GTV, we see the use of the venue as a marketing tool especially for the possibility of it being used as training ground ahead of the 2010 World Cup,” Musonye said.

Musonye revealed that Sudan, Ethiopia and Zanzibar will play their preliminary matches in Arusha while the rest of the Cecafa members battle it out at Dar es Salaam’s national old stadium.

Consequently, Group’s C action starts on December 9, and not December 10 so as to give it a Sunday kick-off. Sudan opens the group action against Zanzibar before the islanders take on Ethiopia December 13.

Ethiopia and Sudan meet on December 15. Two of the three sides qualify for the quarter finals in Dar es Salaam. The regional tournament opens on December 8 with traditional rivals Kenya and Tanzania opening the action.

The two sides, alongside fast rising Burundi and committed Somalia make Group A of this GTV sponsored two-week tournament. Rwanda, Uganda, Eritrea and Djibouti form Group B.

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