What is the fate of 2020/21 Rwanda Premier League?

With sports competitions yet to be given a green light to resume, the fate of the 2020/21 Rwanda Premier League, which remains suspended since December last year, is in the balance. No one knows when sports competitions will resume until the government issues fresh guidelines on a possible resumption of competitions. The new season for the majority of sports competitions is yet to kick off as federations have been monitoring the situation of the covid-19 before announcing the new calendars for respective competitions. Only Rwanda Premier League season had started in December last year but the Ministry of Sports quickly suspended it on December 11, after just three match days, after the Ministry, in partnership with health authorities conducted an inspection which among others, discovered that some top-flight teams were issuing fake Covid-19 certificates for their players. There was hope that the cabinet meeting held on Friday, February 19, would welcome sports competitions back. However, only individual and non-contact outdoor sports activities are allowed to resume, as per the Ministry of Sports’ recent announcement. For the moment, sports competitions remain banned till further notice, a development which came as a huge blow for different sports federations which have been preparing to resume league competitions. Local football competitions normally close on July 4, as per FERWAFA’s calendar for competitions and, although it remains unclear when top flight clubs will return to action, Rayon Sports’ spokesperson, Jean Paul Nkurunziza insists that there is still time to play the premier league but on condition that the football calendar is extended for a few months. It is too early to write off league competitions for Basketball, Volleyball, Handball, Golf or Tennis. But, with less than just five months to play the league, the Peace Cup as well as AFCON 2021 and World Cup qualifiers for the national team, the backlog of fixtures for football competitions, could pose injury threat for top flight clubs, according to Nkurunziza. “Otherwise, clubs could be hit by a plague of injuries due to the backlog of fixtures. But there is still a possibility to successfully play the league if its calendar is extended until August or September or,” he told Times Sport. Last season, APR FC were crowned champions of Rwanda Premier League after the league was declared over amid the coronavirus pandemic. However, Etincelles President, Dirigeant Hitayezu, doesn’t see the same happening this year because there is still time to resume, saying that it shouldn’t be a matter of when but how the league should be played. “We are in contact with the football administration and the discussions are showing signs that we could still play the league. We trust the decision of the federation to remain positive and of course we want the league to return,” Hitayezu said. It’s still on the cards With 27 match days to play, the league remains suspended until further notice and the possibility to resume is likely to affect the current league calendar. People following Rwandan football see the league far from playable unless the football season is extended by one or two further months. However, FERWAFA Secretary General, Francois Regis Uwayezu said there is still hope that it could resume as soon as the football governing body gets green light to reorganize football competitions. “The fact that we haven’t taken a decision to pronounce the league null and void is because we think that it is still possible for the league to resume. But whatever decisions that we will take will depend on the upcoming cabinet resolutions,” Uwayezu said.