Emmanuel Muga BBC Sport, Dar-es-Salam

Marcio Maximo is keen on impressing at the Cecafa Cup

Excitement is building towards Tanzania's hosting of East and Central Africa's regional tournament which starts on Saturday.

This year's Cecafa Cup, which features 11 countries from the region, will be played in Dar es Salaam and the northern city of Arusha.

The hosts last won the title in 1994 and after impressing in the Nations Cup qualifiers, the home fans are confident of a Taifa Stars title win.

Tanzania will face Kenya, Somalia and Burundi in Group A but coach Marcio Maximo has called up many debutantes for the tournament.

The Brazilian wants to use the championship as a launching pad for next year's World Cup qualifiers.

"I want to win the title but people should not forget there are more important matches ahead of us," Maximo told BBC Sport.

"I have a very young squad, which I am preparing for the world qualifiers. We should use Cecafa to prepare for those qualifiers," he added.

Some players from Tanzania's national side will play for the semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar, which is not recognised by Fifa.

Zanzibar, who are drawn in Group C, take on Sudan and Ethiopia and they boast some of the players who inspired Tanzania in the Nations Cup qualifiers.

Taifa Stars midfielder Abdi Kassim and defender Nadir Haroub 'Cannavaro' are all expected to play for Zanzibar.

Sudan will use the tournament as a warm-up for next year's African Cup of Nations in Ghana.

Group B features Rwanda, Eritrea Djibouti and Uganda, who are the favourites to top the group.

The winner of this year's competition will receive $30,000, the second-placed team will be given $20,000, with $10,000 going to the side that comes third.

There will also be additional prize money for the most promising players, top goalkeeper and leading scorer.

Zambia, who were guests at the tournament, won last year's tournament.

The competition will be preceded by elections for the chairmanship of the regional governing body, Cecafa.