Yanga squad

 Kagame Cup defending champions Young Africans (Yanga) will play Atletico of Burundi in the opening match of this year’s edition on July 14 at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam.

Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (Cecafa) secretary general Nicolas Musonye said yesterday that it will be the second match of Group `C’ with the first game pitting APR of Rwanda and newcomers Wau Salaam of South Sudan.

Mainland Premier League third-placed Azam FC will play Mafunzo of Zanzibar in the next day in a Group `B’ tie at Chamazi ground. Kenya’s Tusker are also in the group.

Mainland champions Simba SC will start their campaign on July 16 when they take on Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) in a Group `A’ game at the National Stadium. It will be the second match of the group after the one involving Vita Club of Democratic Republic of Congo and Ports of Djibouti.

Quarter final matches will be held on July 23 to July 25 while semi finals will take place on July 26. The final match will take place on July 28.

The championship is annually sponsored by President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and it attracts club champions of Cecafa member countries and some invited countries. Vita Club of Democratic Republic of Congo is among this year’s invitees.

Regulars El Merreikh of Sudan, Red Sea (Eritrea), Coffee (Ethiopia) and Elman (Somalia) will miss this year’s championship to be staged in Tanzania Mainland for the third consecutive year for different reasons.

The clubs that emerge champions will be awarded 30,000 dollars while the first and second runners-up will walk away with 20,000 dollars and 10,000 dollars, respectively.