The disturbing story of Rwanda’s dead football project

In August 2013, Rwanda began a long-term and costly project that was supposed to massively improve the country’s football. The project aimed at producing a cluster of young football professionals that would revolutionize our football. A massive Rwf54 million was spent in the first year, to provide quality football education to three young men in one of Europe’s best training academies. The same amount was expected to be spent in their second and final year of the project. Yves Rwigema, Anderson Neza and striker Fiston Nkizingabo would be based in Spain at Valencia’s prestigious school, the Royal European Football Academy. And their mission: To become top quality footballers who can save Rwanda’s football from its misery of mediocrity. Part of the plan was that upon graduation, the lads would turn into a new breed of footballers and break into Europe’s top leagues in Spain, England or Italy - or at least - play for their second and third division leagues. Either way, this would be a massive step forward for Rwandan football. As we speak now, the project is no more! It is dead and buried! And the three lads are back in Rwanda with very little or nothing to show for the investment. They were unable to complete their education because, half way through, the FERWAFA boss, Vincent Nzamwita, started to get second thoughts about the project and deemed it too wasteful. The players were thus discontinued after their first year and they neither play for Valencia nor for Leeds, but are plying their trade for APR and Police FC. Rwigyema and Nkizingabo play for APR while Neza plays for Police. I recently had a chat with Augustin Munyandamutsa, the chairman and proprietor of Sports Empowerment Academy (SEC), which trained the three men in their earlier years. When I mentioned about this project, his gaze turned a little darker. He recalled the proud moment in 2013 when the three young men brewed with excitement as they jetted off to Spain to enrich their skills. His deduction about it all was summarized in one word - failure. “When the project started, we envisioned it as a beginning to something great for Rwandan football. These kids would open the doors for other Rwandan footballers in the elite leagues of Europe – and with such experience, Rwandan football would change for the better. But the project is no more,” he said in a disappointed tone. He added, “Someone up the echelon of power suddenly thought that this project was too expensive and decided to discontinue it.” Meanwhile, this sad and cruel realization by Nzamwita, head of FERWAFA, came later, after a massive Rwf54 million had already been spent – and according to Munyandamutsa, discontinuing showed a lack of commitment to football development. As a football fanatic, I tend to agree with this argument. First of all, it would have been better not to start this program at all, than to discontinue it halfway after so much had already been spent. Nevertheless, such an act is just a tip of the iceberg of the many irrational decisions that the local football governing body makes too often – and it screams loud about the disorganization that tarnishes the body. If only there was a worthy alternative that Nzamwita and the Ministry of Sports and Culture had provided, I would understand the reason for scrapping such a long sighted project. But when you look around, the situation is very alarming. None of them can point to one quality project aimed at empowering a new generation of Rwandan footballers, which in itself is a big shame to the relevant authorities and disturbing story of Rwanda’s dead football. mugishaivan@yahoo.com

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The disturbing story of Rwanda’s dead football project