The Executive Director of the Council of East and Central African Football Associations (Cecafa), Auka Gecheo has said the regional tournaments can only return between November and December 2020.

Gecheo who took over office in March this year said that the emergence of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) has brought competitions in the region to a stand-still this year.

In an interview in the Star of Kenya early this week Gecheo made it clear that COVID-19 has disrupted the Cecafa calendar in unprecedented way.

He made it clear that the earliest Cecafa can hold any competition is either in November or December. “Those are some of the challenges of regional competition. When life is going on in Tanzania as usual, Rwanda has very stringent lockdown rules. In Kenya, we’ve even designated our stadiums as COVID-19 recovery centres,” says Gecheo.

Cecafa’s new board with Tanzania’s Wallace Karia as President had earmarked nine tournaments to take place in the region this year.

But because of COVID-19, the regional will likely only hold the U-20 Boys Championship which will also be the qualifier for the Afcon U-20 Championship.

Last year Cecafa concluded the season with the Challenge Cup with hosts Uganda stopping Eritrea in the final in Kampala.