KNC blames poor coordination for Gasogi Peace Cup withdrawal

Gasogi United president and proprietor Charles Kakooza Nkuliza (KNC), has revealed that his club pulled out of the 2023 Peace Cup because the tournament was disorganised and poorly coordinated. Gasogi withdrew from the Peace Cup competition just hours after they were drawn against Rwamagana City in the preliminary round draw held at football governing body (Ferwafa) headquarters in Remera, on Wednesday, January 8. READ ALSO: Gasogi draw Rwamagana City in Peace Cup preliminaries KNC was critical towards Ferwafa’s failure to establish proper rules and regulations governing the tournament, without which, he claims, the federation organises the competition the way they want. “We didn’t withdraw for no reasons,” KNC said, explaining that they were ‘surprised’ to find the club in the preliminary draw from which they weren’t supposed to join the tournament. “Few days before the draw, they (Ferwafa) said that only five teams will play the preliminaries and they opted to change the format in the last minute and saying that a total of 11 topflight teams will play the preliminaries “Everything that works without proper rules and regulations becomes a mess, so that’s why we pulled out,” he added. KNC said that his team would take part in the tournament if Ferwafa had decided that all teams will play the preliminaries. “I would be okay with that but we can’t accept that,” he said. Gasogi became the second team to pull out of the Peace Cup tournament after AS Kigali although the reason behind the latter’s withdrawal remains unclear despite Weekend Sport’s efforts to reach them for a comment on several attempts in vain. READ ALSO: Gasogi pull out of 2023 Peace Cup tourney This year's Peace Cup will start with the preliminaries after which qualified teams will again be brought together for another draw of the two-leg knockout stages starting from round of 32. The likes of runners-up APR, Police, Rayon Sports and Mukura Victory Sports will join the tournament starting in the round of 16. Peace Cup, Rwanda’s second biggest football tournament, attracts top flight and second tier league teams. The winner represents the country at the CAF Confederation Cup. AS Kigali won last season’s Peace Cup after beating rivals APR 1-0 in the final at Kigali Stadium back in June 2022.