Football lovers have been snatched the opportunity to attend a highly anticipated match between Rwanda and Kenya slated for this Sunday, September 5, Rwanda Football Federation (Ferwafa) announced on Thursday.

The national team, Amavubi will be looking for a win to boost their chances in the qualifying campaign, especially after suffering a loss against Mali, on Wednesday.

The match is expected to be hosted at the Kigali stadium, based in Nyamirambo, Nyarugenge District.

According to Ferwafa, various measures had been put in place to mitigate the spread of Covid-19, with hopes to host football fans, as part of the efforts to boost Amavubi’s morale.

However, the plan was declined by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), citing that previous agreements don’t allow the vice.

"All games are expected to be played without fans,” the association responded to Ferwafa, a few days before the game.

While the majority of fans remain unhappy with the decision, Ferwafa highlighted that it is committed to engaging various stakeholders to ensure that both international and local tournaments can be played in presence of fans, but also under strict Covid-19 guidelines.

The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification process is a series of tournaments organized by the six FIFA Confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams that will play the FIFA World Cup, with Qatar qualifying automatically as host.

Qualifiers process opened in 2019 but suffered numerous postponements due to the Covid-19 Pandemic.

At the end of the qualification process, five African Nations will represent the continent in the 2022 FIFA World Cup Tournament.