Players of the men’s senior national football team have started informal fitness training at Amahoro Stadium as the resumption of the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers edges closer.

The qualifiers for AFCON 2021 restart in November after a long hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Serge Mwambali, the fitness coach of the national team, has formed small groups of five players each – who are trained at different shifts – so as to observe the required physical distance and other precautionary measures.

Though head coach Vincent Mashami is yet to announce the squad for the qualifiers, he has reportedly contacted Amavubi-bound players to start fitness and strength training.

"It is not open training. We do some drills with our fitness coach (Serge Mwambali) with groups of five players so they can be fit for the upcoming AFCON qualifiers,” said Mashami.

Amavubi players, who had not trained together since their friendly game against the Republic of Congo in February, are set to resume their AFCON qualifiers in November with two matches.

Rwanda's first match, in the rescheduled qualifiers, will be against Cape Verde in the second week of November.

Mashami faces a daunting task to guide Amavubi to the biggest football tournament in Africa following his side's poor start in the qualifiers campaign where Rwanda lost its first two matches against Mozambique and Cameroon in Group F.

Mozambique and Cameroon jointly top the group with 4 points each, while Cape Verde is third with 2 points.