Why the CECAFA Kagame Cup should be played in a Champions League format

This year’s edition of the Cecafa Club Championship hangs in balance following the decline by Kenya to host the championship due to perennial lack of funds. The Council for Eastern and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) has now turned to Sudan and Rwanda as possible hosts, still both nations have not yet replied if they’re willing to host tourney. Perhaps due to lack of commitment from member countries; it’s high time for tournament organizers to think about the club championship transforming into champions league format, and here are some of the reasons as to why; Firstly it would be exciting if the regional big clubs SC Villa, APR, Simba, Vital’O, TP Mazembe e.t.c meet regularly. In this case, it makes the league competitive and attractive as clubs engage in the titanic struggle for the title. Since the CECAFA teams rarely advance to the group stages of the CAF Champions League or the Confederation Cup which is dominated by North African clubs, this would be an opportunity for the regional champions to compete and get a big trophy. The other reason is that the CECAFA challenge cup doesn’t generate reasonable revenues since it’s just a tournament for a short time (two weeks). Such tournaments should be for national teams not soccer clubs. The increased regional integration and makes the champion’s league more possible. The fact that movement of teams and fans is after all now easier within the region than before, clubs can play group home and away games in a round-robin format. If a team like Rayon Sports with a huge fan base is playing with Gor Mahia in Kenya, traveling to Nairobi would not be problematic for both the team and the fans henceforth vice versa. The other point to note is that the host team would be able to earn from the gate collections making it possible to meet the return leg costs. In that context, national teams in the region would benefit because local players would be playing against serious competition regularly. Given that most leagues in CECAFA are dominated by a few clubs from non- competitive leagues, players don’t regularly experience tough competition which leads to stagnation of talent. Such a format will give opportunity to small teams to play the elite club regional competition, after all the purpose is to crown or highlight the performances of best regional clubs. Also unlike West Africa which dominates African football because they have a lot of professionals in Europe, CECAFA region has very few professionals which is one of the reasons why the countries never win the AfCON or even qualify for the World Cup. The champion’s league would be a great scouting opportunity for young and upcoming talent to get professional chances in Europe and other lucrative places in football. Fans would also get a chance to enjoy as they watch some mythical talent creatures (stars) from a regional land and their abundant talent on display to realize how excellent they are. For commercial purposes, the league could possibly attract a regional commercial partner or televisions like to broadcast the league and in turn it would attract an extensive audience increasing their chances of joining professional ranks in Europe. In contrast to a single main sponsor, a group of corporations can be lured to sponsor the league with each allocated a perimeter of the pitch, a placement of logo, number of tickets to each match priority to television adverts. Hence a solution to the tumultuous financial problems faced by the organizers. Business can improve both directly and indirectly, since pubs would perchance be full of stooge fans showing off their passion by shouting at the TV to show how dedication they are to Rayon or Young African (TZ) despite never having been to the ground. This would be the best way we can settle this “who is the best regional striker, defender or goalkeeper or club? Debate for once and for role. editorial@newtimes.co.rw