Rwanda women football team to miss Cecafa

By Jerry Muhamudu;

The Rwanda women national football team, She-Amavubi will not feature in the 2019 regional Council of East and Central Africa Football Association (CECAFA) Women Football tournament which brings together all eight women regional teams, it has emerged.

This year’s regional tournament which is important for the development of women football is scheduled to kick off from 3th-23rd November 2019 in Dar es Salaam, capital of Tanzania.

Francois Regis Uwayezu the secretary-general of local football body Ferwafa, confirmed the news when he briefly said that the women’s national team will not be participating in the games.

However, he did not give an explanation as to why instead referred this publication to the Ministry of Sports and Culture.

The Ministry of Sports has not commented, however football observes point at budget cuts during this financial year.

Meanwhile, the Cecafa competition draws held in Tanzania has seen the rest of the teams placed into two groups.

Pool A consist of hosts defending champions Tanzania, Zanzibar, Burundi, and South Sudan, Kenya will take on Uganda, Ethiopia, and Djibouti in Pool B.

Last year’s edition was hosted by Rwanda but failed to reach the finals won by Tanzania. The winner walked away with $2,500, as 1st runners up Uganda pocketed $1500 while Ethiopia was rewarded $1,000.

The most valuable player of the tournament was Issa Fatuma Maonyo (Tanzania), the best goalkeeper was Ruth Aturo (Uganda) while top-scorers were Meselu Abera, Tesfamariam (Ethiopia) and Donisia Daniel Minja (Tanzania) all tied on 3 goals.