Burundi, Djibouti and Somalia withdrew before the draw of the groups for the tournament, complaining of financial difficulties.

[1] A day later though, on the 28 November, Tanzanian business magnate Azim Dewji produced cash to pay for airplane tickets, but the connecting flight from Nairobi, Kenya, to Khartoum, Sudan, were all full.

[1] Yahya Mata, chairman of the interim committee of the Football Association of Tanzania (abbreviated to FAT), stated that "We have pulled out of the tournament, after failure to secure connecting flights from Nairobi to Khartoum", the second withdrawal within four days prompted ridicule.

Kenya won the third place play-off, followed by Uganda beating Rwanda in the final to win the tournament.

The tournament was originally named the Gossage Cup, contested by the four nations of Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika (modern day Tanzania), and Zanzibar,[6] running from 1929 until 1965.

[2] If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings (in descending order):