CECAFA Kagame Cup: Football History, Format and Past Winners

The CECAFA Kagame Cup is the club football championship of East and Central Africa, and Rayon Sports won the 2026 edition, beating Gor Mahia of Kenya 2-1 after extra time at Amahoro Stadium, Kigali, on 7 August 2026. It is the same competition that fans call the Kagame Cup, the CECAFA Club Cup or the CECAFA club championship, and it has carried the Kagame Interclub Cup name since 2002, when Rwandan president Paul Kagame began sponsoring it. For South African readers, it is the soccer club cup of the region to your north, played among league sides and invited guests.

That night in Kigali gave Rayon Sports their first title in 28 years, a gap so long that a supporter who was a schoolchild at the last one could have brought their own children to Amahoro for this one. What follows explains how the tournament works, when it is played, who has won it since the first official edition in 1974, and why a club from Zambia could lift it. It is written for Kenyan, Ugandan and Tanzanian fans who already know the names, and for readers in Lagos, Accra and Johannesburg who meet the competition first as a scoreline on their phone.

How Do You Read the Kagame Cup Table, Fixtures and Results?

The modules above carry the live record of the Kagame Cup and update after every match, so the job of the words is to explain how to read them. The Cecafa Kagame Cup table shows each group on its own, because the competition opens with a group stage before the knockouts. Each line gives matches played, wins, draws, defeats, goals and points. South African readers may know the table as the log, and its order settles which clubs move into the knockout rounds.

The Cecafa Kagame Cup fixtures list each tie with its date, venue and kick off time in four African time zones. The venue line matters more than usual in a single host tournament: the 2026 matches were shared between Amahoro Stadium and Kigali Pele Stadium, and a supporter in the city reads the ground before the time. If two matches in a group share a day, check both, because the second game can decide the group as much as the first.

The Cecafa Kagame Cup results record every final score with the scorers and the date, and a knockout result shows extra time and penalties where they happened. That detail tells a story in this competition, because two recent finals went beyond 90 minutes: Red Arrows won a shootout 10-9 against APR in 2024, and Rayon Sports needed extra time against Gor Mahia in 2026. In my opinion, the words 'after extra time' on a final result say more about the night than the score alone.

Where Do the Kagame Cup Stats Show the Players to Watch?

The Cecafa Kagame Cup stats module gathers the scorers, assists and discipline for the current edition, and it is where the tournament's individual stories appear first. A short cup rewards a striker who starts quickly, because each side has only a handful of group matches before the knockouts begin. So, the scoring chart moves fast, and a brace in one group game can lift a name near the top of the list before the quarter of the tournament is out.

The African angle extends beyond East Africa through the players representing its clubs. Nigeria is not a CECAFA member, so Nigerian clubs have no regular entry route, but Nigerian players can represent participating clubs. When a West African player turns out for an East African club, the stats module is where his name will show, and that alone makes it worth a look from Lagos. Ghanaian readers can read it the same way for Black Stars hopefuls, and South Africans for anyone on the Bafana Bafana radar.

Our Cecafa Kagame Cup predictions attach an estimated probability and reference price to each Kagame Cup match call, with unsuccessful selections recorded alongside successful ones. Comparing clubs across CECAFA borders requires care when their squads have changed or they have rarely met. A 60 per cent estimate, for example, leaves 40 per cent for other outcomes; the reference price gives that estimate a basis for comparison. Predictions are for adults aged 18 and over. If gambling is causing concern, contact a gambling support helpline in your country.

What Time Do Kagame Cup Matches Kick Off in Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana and South Africa?

Kagame Cup kick off times appear in WAT, EAT, SAST and GMT together in the fixtures module, so a reader anywhere on the continent can read their own clock without doing the sums. Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania run on East Africa Time, Nigeria on West Africa Time, South Africa on South Africa Standard Time and Ghana on GMT. As an example of how the zones line up, a match listed at 16:00 EAT starts at 15:00 SAST, 14:00 WAT and 13:00 GMT, which is the same moment on four different watches.

The host country sets the local start, and with Rwanda holding the tournament in 2026, 2027 and 2028, the Kigali clock applies to those editions. Kigali keeps the same hour as Johannesburg, so a South African fan reads a Rwandan kick off exactly as printed. A Kenyan or Ugandan fan adds an hour to Kigali time, a Lagos fan takes one hour away, and an Accra fan takes two.

For West African viewers, the time difference is one of the friendliest things about this tournament. Kigali sits as close to Lagos as London does in the northern winter, an hour apart, only in the other direction. So, an afternoon group game in Kigali arrives in Nigeria around lunch, and an evening match lands in time for the end of a working day, with Accra a further hour behind and comfortably placed for the evening.

How Can You Watch the CECAFA Kagame Cup from Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa?

For Kagame Cup viewing details, check announcements from CECAFA or the host federation before each tournament. Look for confirmation that a broadcast or stream covers your country, whether you are following from Lagos, Accra, Durban or Nairobi, and check which matches are included.

To follow it from Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa, pair the results module with the fixtures list in your own time zone, then check the host federation's channels for any available highlights. Readers in Kenya and Uganda should also check coverage for their country. Where to watch in each country is kept as data on the site, and it is updated when a rights holder confirms coverage rather than guessed in advance.

How Does the CECAFA Kagame Cup Work?

The CECAFA Kagame Cup works as a short tournament with a group stage followed by knockout rounds, played in one host country over a few weeks. The 2026 edition, for instance, brought 12 teams from nine countries to Kigali and split them into three groups of four, with the leading sides moving on to knockout ties and a single final. Matches are played at shared host venues rather than home and away, which is the main difference a Nigerian reader will notice against the CAF club competitions.

The format changes between editions, because CECAFA sets the number of teams, groups and knockout places each time, depending on how many clubs enter and how many grounds the host can offer. It could be argued that this flexibility is how the tournament has come back after its quiet years; a competition that can shrink or grow to fit the host is easier to restart. The table module always shows the shape of the current edition, so read its group headings first and the rest of the bracket follows.

Who Qualifies for the Kagame Cup, and What Is It Worth?

Entry normally goes to the top league sides of CECAFA member countries, with invited guests from outside the region added when the organisers want a fuller draw. Clubs from beyond the region have also reached the final: Red Arrows of Zambia beat APR 10-9 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the 2024 final, and Nyasa Big Bullets of Malawi reached the 2021 final, where Express won 1-0. Nigerian, Ghanaian and South African clubs have no regular route in, because their countries belong to other CAF zones, so an invitation would be the only door.

The Kagame Cup is a regional tournament run by CECAFA rather than a CAF competition, so winning it does not bring a place in the CAF Champions League or the Confederation Cup. Those two are where Enyimba, Rangers and the other NPFL sides chase continental football alongside clubs from Ghana and the South African Premiership, and they carry the bigger prize money. CECAFA sets the Kagame Cup purse for each edition and announces it with the draw. In my opinion, the comparison is a state cup set beside the national league: smaller money, and real pride.

It is also easy to mix up the Kagame Cup with the CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup, which is the region's tournament for national teams rather than clubs. The Challenge Cup is where Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania meet in national colours; the Kagame Cup is where Gor Mahia, Simba and APR meet in club shirts. For the clubs, the value lies in prestige and preparation, with competitive matches against regional opponents and a trophy to contest.

Who Has Won the Kagame Cup, and Which Records Still Stand?

Simba of Tanzania have won the Kagame Cup six times, the most of any single club. Among the other clubs with long histories in it, AFC Leopards won official titles in 1979, 1982, 1983, 1984 and 1997, while Young Africans won in 1975, 1993, 1999, 2011 and 2012. Gor Mahia added three of their own in 1980, 1981 and 1985, which is why Kenyan fans speak about the competition with such ownership.

Published title counts do not always agree, and the reasons are plain once you see them. The 1967 edition is listed but not officially recognised, so a table that counts it gives Kenya one more title than a table that begins in 1974, and some records credit that year to AFC Leopards while others list the winner as Lamba Lamba. Clubs have also changed names, Kampala City Council being the 2019 winner under the name it carried then, so a count by today's names can split one history in two. The table below anchors every title to the year of its final, which settles most of the confusion.

The finals from 2018 to 2026 show how widely the trophy travelled. Azam beat Simba 2-1 in 2018, Kampala City Council beat Azam 1-0 in 2019, Express beat Nyasa Big Bullets 1-0 in 2021, Red Arrows edged APR on penalties in 2024, Singida Black Stars beat Al-Hilal 2-1 in 2025, and Rayon Sports beat Gor Mahia 2-1 after extra time in 2026. That sequence comprises six finals since 2018 with six different champions from four countries, the kind of spread that would keep a Lagos viewing centre arguing until closing time.

Which Clubs Have Shaped the Kagame Cup, Country by Country?

Kenya brings the biggest audience to the Kagame Cup, and Gor Mahia's run to the 2026 final reminded the K'Ogalo following why they treat it as the region's club prize. AFC Leopards, the Ingwe, hold the deepest Kenyan record, and their three straight titles from 1982 to 1984 still sit at the heart of the club's story. For a Kenyan reader, the tournament is the one place where the big Nairobi names are measured directly against Simba and Yanga.

Uganda's record includes Express and the club now known as KCCA, which won in 2019 as Kampala City Council. Express followed in 2021 with their 1-0 final win over Nyasa Big Bullets, giving Ugandan clubs two titles across the finals from 2018 to 2026. For Kampala supporters, the Kagame Cup offers a regional test inside a few weeks, without the long travel of a continental campaign.

Tanzania's winners include Young Africans in 2011 and 2012, Azam in 2018 and Singida Black Stars in 2025, when they beat Al-Hilal of Sudan 2-1. The rivalry between Simba and Yanga, as Young Africans are known at home, is one of the great derbies of African football, and it travels into this tournament whenever both enter. Simba returned to the Kagame Cup in 2026 after seven years away, which gave that edition a familiar name at the top of the draw.

Rwanda has the biggest stake of all, as host for 2026, 2027 and 2028. Rayon Sports' title in front of their own supporters at Amahoro turned a long wait into a celebration, and APR, beaten finalists on penalties in 2024, give Rwandan fans a rivalry to measure every trophy against. In my opinion, three editions in a row on home soil is a real chance for Rwandan football to build crowds around the competition, and the Rayon and APR followings are the engine for it.

When Is the CECAFA Kagame Cup Played?

The 2026 Kagame Cup final took place on 7 August. CECAFA confirms the calendar close to each tournament. Rwanda was awarded the 2027 and 2028 editions by CECAFA's Executive Committee on 6 August 2026.

For anyone checking Kagame Cup dates, consult the tournament announcement before planning a trip or a viewing. Rwanda was awarded hosting rights through 2028. The fixtures module fills in as soon as the draw is made, and the dates shown there are the ones to trust. The tournament was not held in 2020, 2022 or 2023, so its history does not contain an edition for every calendar year.

Where Is the Kagame Cup Played, and What Did the 2026 Final Mean?

Recent editions have had a single host country, and the 2026 tournament was played at Amahoro Stadium and Kigali Pele Stadium, with Amahoro staging the final. The host is chosen by CECAFA, and Rwanda's run from 2026 to 2028 gives the competition a settled home for three editions. For travelling fans from Nairobi or Kampala, Kigali is a shorter journey than most continental away days, and that matters for a club tournament built on regional crowds.

If I had to pick one match to explain the Kagame Cup to a Lagos viewing centre, it would be the 2026 final. Rayon Sports and Gor Mahia could not be separated in normal time, and Rayon won 2-1 after extra time to end a 28 year wait for the title in front of their supporters. Gor Mahia's run to that final was an achievement of its own, and the K'Ogalo can take it into the next edition as proof that a Kenyan side can go deep in Kigali.

How Did the CECAFA Club Championship Begin?

The CECAFA club championship traces its roots to a 1967 edition won by Lamba Lamba, which is listed in the records but not officially recognised. The official history begins in 1974, when Mikia became the first champions, and the decades that followed belonged largely to the big clubs of Kenya and Tanzania. Young Africans won in 1975, and the late 1970s and 1980s brought the great Kenyan run, with AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia sharing the trophy across most of that stretch.

The name most fans use today arrived in 2002, when Rwandan president Paul Kagame began sponsoring the tournament and it became the Kagame Interclub Cup. That is why a Kenyan fan says CECAFA Kagame Cup, a Rwandan says Kagame Cup, and an encyclopaedia says CECAFA Club Cup, all for the same trophy. Perhaps no other African club competition carries three names so comfortably; it is a little like a Lagos bus stop that every passenger calls something different, while the bus still arrives at the same place.

The tournament was not held in 1990, 2016, 2017, 2020, 2022 and 2023. The editions from 2024 to 2026 produced a Zambian champion in Red Arrows, a Tanzanian winner in Singida Black Stars and a long awaited Rwandan title for Rayon Sports. To follow an edition, set the fixtures module to your own time zone once the draw is published, then keep the results and table open side by side through the group stage.