AS Kigali women football club coach Grace Nyinawumuntu was appointed head coach of the Rwanda’s women’s national team on Saturday.The former Rwandan international central defender beat off competition from two other candidates for the job namely; Kicukiro Center’s Anne Mbonimpa and former Les Lionnes coach Seraphine Munyana.Nyinawumuntu, who is by far the most successful coach in Rwandan women’s football, has led her side AS Kigali to five consecutive league titles including last year’s title.Last year on July 27, she was also honored by DIVA Africa awards limited for her role in the development of women football in Rwanda.Rwanda face Kenya in the first round of the 2014 CAF Africa Women’s Championship qualifiers on the weekend of February 13-15. The team is set to start preparations of the two-legged qualifiers against Kenya late this month according to newly appointed head coach Nyinawumuntu.“I am very delighted to be appointed national team head coach. Despite the team being new in competitions, I and the whole staff are going to do the best possible to see-off Kenya,” she noted in her first interview in her new role, which most observers believe, she fully deserves.Nyinawumuntu will be assisted by Innocent Seniga, while Claude Maniraguha is the goalkeepers’ coach. Rwanda’s last competitive game was in 2009 against Uganda in the preliminary round of the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers which they lost 1-0 at the Regional stadium in Nyamirambo.
