While Kenya and Tanzania, both members of the Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) were invited.

[3][4] On 17 May 2013, Tanzania withdrew, citing conflicting schedules with African Nations Championship qualifiers and the Kagame Interclub Cup.

[5] The Tanzanian and Ugandan Federations were unable to agree on a new date for the African Nations Championship qualifying game due to a conflict with the FUFA elections.

[6] Tanzania were replaced with Equatorial Guinea,[7] a member of the Central African Football Federations' Union (UNIFFAC), but they withdrew from the competition on 24 June.

[10] Zambia, South Africa, Angola, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Malawi received a bye to this stage.