[5][6] The third place playoff was won by guests Zambia, who beat Tanzania 6–5 on penalties after playing out to a 1–1 draw after 90 minutes.

[8] However, their hosting of the tournament was not confirmed until a congress meeting for the Confederation of African Football held in Marrakesh, Morocco on 11 March 2013, after it was announced that the Football Kenya Federation had met all the requirements for hosting the tournaments with support from the Kenyan government.

[10] On 21 November 2013, CECAFA announced that GOtv would be the title sponsors of the tournament, having committed KSh.11.25 million/= towards the organisation of the event and a further Ksh.

[13][14][15] Alongside the 12 member nations of CECAFA, Ivory Coast, Malawi and Zambia were initially mooted as invitees for the tournament.

[16] However, CECAFA decided against inviting the Ivory Coast, with Secretary-General Nicholas Musonye saying that flying in Les Éléphants and keeping them in the country would cost the organisers over US$25,000.

[17] The Football Association of Malawi decided not to enter a team for the tournament due to a lack of funds.

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