THE secretariat of the Confederation of Central and East Africa Football Associations (Cecafa) has asserted that Rayon Sport is not in their plans for the upcoming Kagame Cup.

The body’s Secretary General Nicholas Musonye yesterday stressed that Rayon’s involvement was out of the question.

"It is standard procedure that the hosts have a luxury of fielding two teams which in this case are Atraco (defending champion) and APR (national league champion),” the official affirmed while reacting to recent reports from the local football governing body (Ferwafa) that the Blues had a good chance of getting involved in the tournament slated for May 15-29 in Kigali.

The last time the event was held in Rwanda, APR emerged victorious under the guidance of Andy Mfutila.

Last year, Atraco became the third local side to win the tournament (after Rayon Sport and APR) when they beat Sudanese side El Merreikh 1-0 in the final. It was also Sam Timbe’s third Kagame Club Championship triumph after back to back wins with Ugandan sides SC Villa (2005) and Police FC (2006).

For the victory, Atraco pocketed $50,000 (Rwf28.65m) and a trophy while losing finalists El Merreikh and TP Mazembe of DRC (third place) settled for $30,000 (Rwf17m) and $20,000 (Rwf11.4m) respectively.

Since 2002, President Paul Kagame has been the key sponsor of the event with an annual contribution of $60,000 (Rwf34.3m).

Ends