{"id":2000118804,"date":"2026-07-09T15:47:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T13:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/?p=2000118804"},"modified":"2026-07-09T16:36:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T14:36:33","slug":"al-merrikh-sc-withdraws-from-cecafa-kagame-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/al-merrikh-sc-withdraws-from-cecafa-kagame-cup-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Al Merrikh SC withdraws from CECAFA Kagame Cup 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The regional tournament is scheduled to take place in Kigali from July 24 to August 7, 2026, with matches to be played at Kigali Pel\u00e9 Stadium and Amahoro Stadium. It will bring together top clubs from across East and Central Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA), the competition was initially expected to feature 12 teams, including representatives from Sudan. However, Al Merrikh confirmed that it will not take part after its technical staff requested a dedicated pre-season camp to help the team prepare for upcoming domestic and continental assignments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAl Merrikh SC confirms its withdrawal from the 2026 CECAFA Kagame Cup after the first-team technical staff requested a special training camp to prepare for the upcoming season,\u201d the club said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The club added that the decision followed an assessment of its preparation needs, with the coaching staff opting to hold an overseas camp to ensure the team is ready for the new season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al Merrikh, coached by Darko Novi\u0107, has recently strengthened its squad with new signings who are expected to arrive in Sudan on July 11. The team will then travel to Kigali on July 13 to begin its training camp. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foreign players unable to join the squad in Sudan will link up with their teammates in Kigali, where the club plans to play a series of friendly matches as part of its preparations for the CAF Champions League and Sudan\u2019s domestic league.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al Merrikh\u2019s withdrawal leaves fellow Sudanese side Al Hilal SC as the country\u2019s sole representative in the tournament, which has been sponsored by President Paul Kagame since 2002.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The competition will now feature 11 teams, with the official draw set to take place on Friday, July 10, 2026, at Amahoro Stadium. Former Rwanda international Haruna Niyonzima will oversee the draw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 11 participating teams are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 APR FC (Rwanda)
\u2022 Rayon Sports (Rwanda)
\u2022 Simba SC (Tanzania)
\u2022 Singida Black Stars FC (Tanzania)
\u2022 Vipers SC (Uganda)
\u2022 Al Hilal SC (Sudan)
\u2022 Gor Mahia FC (Kenya)
\u2022 Mogadishu City FC (Somalia)
\u2022 Jamus SC (South Sudan)
\u2022 FC Garde R\u00e9publicaine (Djibouti)
\u2022 KVZ FC (Zanzibar)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Sudanese giants Al Merrikh SC have withdrawn from the 2026 CECAFA Kagame Cup, opting to focus on preparations for the 2026\/27 season in which they are set to compete in the CAF Champions League.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Al Merrikh, coached by Darko Novi\u0107, has recently strengthened its squad with new signings who are expected to arrive in Sudan on July 11. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sudanese giants Al Merrikh SC have withdrawn from the 2026 CECAFA Kagame Cup, opting to focus on preparations for the 2026\/27 season in which they are set to compete in the CAF Champions League.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000118805,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[151],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000118804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-editors-choice","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000118805,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/717038094_1525989032262517_2521326164452295963_n-d71e7.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":1000,"height":750,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/717038094_1525989032262517_2521326164452295963_n-d71e7.jpg","width":1000,"height":750},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/717038094_1525989032262517_2521326164452295963_n-d71e7.jpg","width":1000,"height":750},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/717038094_1525989032262517_2521326164452295963_n-d71e7.jpg","width":1000,"height":750},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/717038094_1525989032262517_2521326164452295963_n-d71e7.jpg","width":1000,"height":750},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/717038094_1525989032262517_2521326164452295963_n-d71e7.jpg","width":1000,"height":750}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000118804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000118804"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000118804\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000118811,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000118804\/revisions\/2000118811"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000118805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000118804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000118804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000118804"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000118804"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000118804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}