Uganda Premier League champions Vipers SC have been handed a challenging group in the 2026 CECAFA Kagame Cup after being drawn alongside Rwanda giants APR FC and Kenya heavyweights Gor Mahia.
The draw held on Friday at the Amahoro Stadium Press Conference Hall in Kigali placed Vipers in Group A together with three-time winners APR FC, six-time Kenyan champions Gor Mahia and Djibouti side Garde Republicaine FC.
Vipers will begin their campaign on July 24 against Garde Republicaine FC, while hosts APR FC will open the tournament on the same day against Gor Mahia at the Amahoro Stadium.
The regional championship returns with some of East and Central Africa’s biggest clubs battling for the title, with Uganda represented by Vipers, who will be hoping to go further than recent Ugandan entrants.
The draw was conducted by CECAFA Head of Marketing and Communication Andrew Jackson Oryada, assisted by former Rwanda captain Haruna Niyonzima, who has previously featured for APR FC, Rayon Sports, Simba SC and Young Africans.
“I am very excited that the region will again hold the CECAFA Kagame Cup which gives teams an opportunity to prepare well,” Niyonzima said.
Group B will feature six-time champions Simba SC of Tanzania, defending champions Singida Black Stars, South Sudan’s Jamus SC and Somalia’s Mogadishu City Club.
Sudanese giants Al Hilal, who finished runners-up in the previous edition, were drawn in Group C alongside Rwanda’s Rayon Sports, Kenya’s Tusker FC and Zanzibar’s KVZ SC.
For Vipers, the tournament offers an opportunity to measure themselves against some of the region’s strongest sides ahead of their domestic and continental commitments.
Ugandan clubs have endured mixed fortunes in recent editions of the CECAFA Kagame Cup. In the 2024 tournament, SC Villa exited at the group stage, with Zambia’s Red Arrows claiming the trophy.
In 2025, Uganda was represented by NEC FC and Vipers SC, but both sides failed to reach the final stages as Tanzania’s Singida Black Stars went on to lift the title.
The last Ugandan club to win the competition was Express FC in 2021, when the Red Eagles defeated Malawi’s Big Bullets in the final.
Historically, only three Ugandan clubs have won the regional title. SC Villa lifted the trophy in 1987, 2003 and 2005, Police FC won it in 2006, while KCCA FC triumphed in 1978 and 2019.
Vipers will now aim to revive Uganda’s fortunes in the competition, but they face an immediate test against established regional forces APR FC and Gor Mahia when the tournament kicks off in Kigali.
