RWANDA has ruled out a possibility of inviting professional players to play in this year’s Cecafa Challenge Cup set for November 28-December 13 in Nairobi, Kenya.

Instead, the local football federation, Ferwafa wants to use home-based players as part of the country’s preparation for the 2011 Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) qualifiers.

"We are going to stick with our local players for the Challenge Cup because we want to use the event as a build up for the CHAN qualifiers,” Ferwafa’s Chief Executive Officer Jules Kalisa said.

The provisional squad for the Cup will be named in the first week of November.

In the last edition which was hosted in Kampala, Rwanda failed to progress past the group stages.

Meanwhile, Amavubi will open their CHAN qualification campaign in March against Eritrea.

The 2011 edition will be hosted by Sudan.
The event, entering its second year, is restricted to home-based players for the participating teams.

With two qualifying slots for the central zone, Rwanda and nine other sides Burundi, Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti, Somalia, Tanzania and Eritrea will tussle it out for the two slots.

In the inaugural Africa Nations Championship, Rwanda was eliminated by Sudan.

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