AS Kigali head coach Andre Casa Mbungo has confidence in the team he has at his disposal and can only expect it to excel in the upcoming 2023-24 Rwanda Premier League season which kicks off on August 18. AS Kigali will begin their league campaign against Bugesera FC at Kigali Pele Stadium. Mbungo is building a new team which is dominated by new faces in players likes Fiston Ishimwe, Janvier Benedata, Yves Kimenyi, Saleh Ishimwe and Thierry Ndayishimiye, Blaise Nishimwe, Blaise Itangishaka, Aime Gael Cuzuzo and Abdoulkarim Hakizimana. He is pioneering a squad rebuild after club experienced a summer transfer player exodus which left key players like Rashid Kalisa, Olivier ‘Seif’ Niyonzima, Fiacre Ntwari, Shabani Tshabalala Hussein, Fabrice Mugheni and Thierry Manzi consider their future elsewhere. ALSO READ: What does the future hold for AS Kigali? It’s been over a week since new-look AS Kigali started training sessions, preparing for new season which, according to Mbungo, looks promising as opposed to the 2022/23 season. Preparations are going pretty well; the players are determined to give their all in training and it gives me motivation to work with them,” Mbungo told Times Sport. “We have a good blend of experienced players and youth and I really hope we can win many matches. The players should be commended for putting up a tough fight throughout the season. Sometimes, we are not consistent enough but we have to try and get back to our level, he added AS Kigali endured a tough season after which the club finished fourth in the league while it did not participate in the Peace Cup for unknown reasons. When the season closed, club president Fabrice Shema stepped down citing personal reasons. Shema’s resignation left some senior players in dilemma wondering what their future at the club would look like. Many of senior players left the club as a result. ALSO READ: AS Kigali boss Shema resigns Mbungo’s future at the club was also up in the air after his contract expired in June. And, while other club had already made their transfer business so early, AS Kigali were nowhere to be seen on the market due to reported financial problems. But when they joined the transfer marked, they made their business quick and, after penning a one-year contract extension, Mbungo suggest the management who he wanted at his team. The rest remains to know whether he got it right with the new signings. I am quite sure we will soon gain confidence again. We are working hard to have a good team available for the next campaign. My mission of ensuring that AS Kigali is doing well in every match and I am positive we will achieve the goal. AS Kigali has not won a league title since its inception in 2000.The team, however, won the Peace Cup four times with the recent going to their trophy cabinet in August 2022, when Mbungo helped the team beat APR FC on penalties after both teams played a goalless draw.
