Rwanda will host four of the six tournaments scheduled on the 2026 calendar of the Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA), further cementing the country’s growing reputation as a regional hub for major football competitions.
Among the key events is the prestigious CECAFA Kagame Cup, which will take place from July 18 to August 9, 2026, bringing together top football clubs from across East and Central Africa.
Other competitions scheduled to be hosted in Rwanda include the African Schools Football Championship (CECAFA Zone), set for July 22–25, 2026. The country will also stage the CAF Women’s Champions League CECAFA Zonal Qualifiers from August 22 to September 6, 2026, where regional women’s clubs will compete for a place in the continental finals.
In addition, Rwanda will host the AFCON U-17 CECAFA Zonal Qualifiers scheduled from October 10 to 25, 2026. The tournament will determine which regional teams qualify for the Africa U-17 Cup of Nations.
The development comes shortly after FIFA confirmed Rwanda among the countries selected to host matches of the FIFA Series 2026, an international competition that brings together national teams from different continents. The matches are scheduled to take place in March 2026.
Hosting several regional and international competitions in the same year is expected to further strengthen Rwanda’s position as a capable host of major sporting events in East and Central Africa and beyond.
The last time CECAFA tournaments were held in Rwanda was in 2020 during the regional U-17 women’s competition. At the time, Rwanda’s national U-17 girls’ team, coached by Yves Rwasamanzi, was eliminated in the group stage after failing to win a match on home soil. The team consequently missed qualification for the Africa U-17 Cup of Nations that had been scheduled for 2021.
