After missing out on ticket to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in the United States, Canada and Mexico, Rwanda football federation (FERWAFA) president Fabrice Shema has said that his office already has a plan in place to prepare the national team from the grassroots. Shema traveled with Amavubi to South Africa for the last World Cup qualifying round against Hugo Broos’s Bafana Bafana on Tuesday, October 14 in a match where they will be looking to fight for national pride after Benin beat them on Friday, October 10, to end a historic qualification to the world’s most prestigious football tournament. Since taking office as new FERWAFA president in August, Shema made a host of promising adjustments aimed at putting Rwandan football back to order, signaling his desire to fill the gaps left by his predecessors. While his administration made immediate increased prize money for clubs, players and coaches to boost the level of performance on the pitch, Shema’s tough assignment lies at finding what would bring Amavubi back the big stage by qualifying for the Africa Cup of the Nations which the country last played in 2004. ALSO READ : What’s new FERWAFA boss Fabrice Shema’s vision for Rwandan football Six to eight months ago, Amavubi were in a position to qualify for the World Cup under the tutelage of Torsten Spittler. However, his exit from the national team marked the beginning of the team’s back-to-back poor results under his successor Adel Amrouche. Rwanda’s defeat against Benin in Kigali on October 10 raised questions on Amrouche’s coaching tactics which were also reportedly questioned by Samuel Guelette. Amrouche’s statistics have been unconvincing and the public has already voiced their frustration about his performances since taking the job. The under-fire Belgian tactician said that defeat against Benin was ‘too difficult to take’ but urged the federation to put more efforts in development to prepare a new generation of the national team. “If you want to play in such a big tournament, you need to prepare your things from the ground up. It is not about changing the coach, changing the president, changing the manager, etc, just like doing something like a lottery. It is impossible without young players,” Amrouche told journalists in a post-march press conference. “You need to produce more players, to have a good league and have youth competitions. Don't think that the World Cup is a place to start with. I asked the technical director to find me a 17-year-old player to select to the national team, but they didn't find him.” On his side, Shema admitted that there is need to invest in young players and prepare them for the future national team. « We want to build a strong foundation of our football so we can have enough young players and make sure they play a lot of competitions until they are ready to play for the senior national team, » Shema said. But, in the meantime, he said, « we also need to bring new faces in the senior national team and give them a chance to show what they can offer. Rwanda will play the FIFA series against countires from across the world and we hope some new players can seize such an opportunity and impress during these matches, » he added. Rwanda, now fourth in Group C with 11 points, will play their final World Cup qualifying match against South Africa who are second with 15 points, two behind group leaders Benin. With Amavubi out of contention, three teams—Benin, Nigeria and South Africa, still stand a chance to qualify for the World Cup 2026.
