Ugandan defender Jovia Nakirya has challenged her teammates to defend the Cecafa U-17 Women’s Championship after they completed the group stages with maximum points.
Uganda beat Djibouti 13-0 on Sunday then Zanzibar 3-0 on Tuesday, owing to goals from Shadia Nabirye, Immaculate Acen, and Justine Ayerango, to qualify for the semifinals with a match to spare.
In that match on Thursday, Uganda beat South Sudan – who ended as group runners-up with six points – 4-0 with braces from Nabirye and Ayerango to finish with nine points and as group winners.
“I am happy that we have won all group games and as defenders, we are glad that we have done so without conceding any goals,” Nakirya said.
The defender like most thought Uganda will play Tanzania in the semis and promised they were ready to deal with their aggression.
Coach Sheryl Botes, who felt her team passed with flying colours the height and physical challenges South Sudan posed also thought Uganda were set to meet Tanzania and even “tried two formations against South Sudan that we intend to use against Tanzania.”
She also challenged her team attempt to convert from setpieces.
Cecafa at it
However, Tanzania were controversially named Group A winners and will now face South Sudan instead. Tanzania beat Somalia 4-0 on Saturday, Sudan 10-0 on Monday and drew 1-1 with Kenya on Wednesday.
Kenya beat Somalia 6-0 on Monday. However, their opening game with Sudan is the cause of controversy.
Kenya were leading 16-0 in the 54th minute when the match was called to a halt after five Sudanese players including their goalkeeper hit the floor claiming injuries.
Interestingly, the latter had also exhausted all their substitutions at this point. The referee had no option but to call off the game as per Law 3 of football which requires a team to have at least seven players on pitch or forfeit the game.
The Cecafa rules guarantee a 3-0 win to the other team in case one forfeits the game. However, this decision was not taken swiftly as Cecafa’s own match-report on Monday has Kenya as Group A leaders (with 22 goals scored as the 16-0 lead was taken into account). Tanzania, who had at this point scored 14 goals in two games, were considered second.
Cecafa’s interim executive director Jean Sseninde confirmed Kenya’s 16-goal efforts were truncated to a 3-0 win as the match is considered abandoned.
That means Uganda will now meet a familiar foe in coach Mildred Cheche’s Kenya and hope to serve some revenge. Kenya ejected Uganda on away goals rule after a 1-1 aggregate draw when they met in the penultimate round of the 2026 Fifa U-17 Women’s World Cup Qualifiers last month.
Kenya must also have hoped to face South Sudan but fortunately for all semifinalists, they have two rest days to prepare before they return to action at KMC Stadium on Sunday.
CECAFA U-17 WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP
SUNDAY: SEMIFINALS, KMC STADIUM
Uganda vs. Kenya, 1pm
Tanzania vs. South Sudan, 4pm