Rwanda start preps for 2019 World Cup qualifiers

RWANDA Football Federation (FERWAFA) has started identifying young players to makethe Junior Wasps team that will play in the 2019 World Cup qualifiers. The World Cup qualifiers will start next year and FERWAFA says it wants to have a strong team in place before the competition begins. FERWAFA president Vincent Nzamwita confirmed that they have started the process of selecting young players. “We are closely monitoring inter-schools competitions and in January we will start a competition for U15. Between October and December we will start registration of those ready to play the youth competitions,” Nzamwita said. He noted that FERWAFA is keen on investing massively in the U-15 competitions to make sure there is a huge pool of players that can be nurtured and groomed so that they can eventually play in the senior football team. The U-15 league will attract players who were born after January 2003. The championship of selecting players will be played across the country during school time. After organising a successful CHAN 2016, Rwanda expressed interest in hosting the FIFA U-17 World Cup finals in 2019. Rwanda have made the definitive bid, and the announcement of the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2019 host is scheduled to be made in the last quarter of 2017 or the first quarter of 2018 by the FIFA Council. The 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup will be the 18th edition – the biennial international men’s youth football championship is contested by the U17 national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The country also wants to host the Africa Cup of Nations finals but the 2025 edition is the ‘nearest’ that Rwanda can bid for. After CHAN 2016, CAF affirmed that Rwanda had shown that they were ready to host big events. Rwanda has gained massive experience from hosting different continental championships including CHAN 2016, Africa U19 Youth Championships in 2009 as well as the 2011 Africa Under-17 Championships. In 2011, the national U-17 team reached the final of the Africa U-17 Championships and later participated in the World U-17 Championships in Mexico. In 2009, Rwanda hosted U20 Africa Championships and were eliminated in group stages. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Rwanda start preps for 2019 World Cup qualifiers