South Sudan and guest team DR Congo are the latest sides to pull out of the regional Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup just three days ahead of the kick-off in Uganda.
It follows Tuesday’s decision by the Ethiopia Football Federation not to send it’s team to East Africa’s regional championship.
Nicholas Musonye, the Secretary General of the Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (Cecafa) said, it was because “they could not fulfil some obligations passed by the CECAFA consultative meeting in Addis Ababa early this year.”
It means that nine nations instead of 12 will take part in the tournament that is due to run from 7 until 19 December.
It is the latest setback to hit the regional tournament after last year’s tournament was cancelled when a host could not be found.
The teams will be split into two groups with the top two advancing to the semi finals.
Revised groups for Cecafa 2019:
Group A: Uganda (hosts), Burundi, Eritrea, Somalia, Djibouti
Group B: Tanzania, Sudan, Kenya (defending champions), Zanzibar