Former Rwanda international Michel Ndahinduka has announced his shock retirement at the age of 30 after struggling with a right-ankle injury that kept him off for the whole of last season. Ndahinduka, who won three consecutive Rwanda Premier League titles with APR, has not played competitive football since the 2018/19 while he played for boyhood club Bugesera. The forward also briefly played for AS Kigali in the domestic topflight league. In an interview with this publication over the weekend, he said: Officially, I have now retired from football. This [ankle] injury has been so serious that I don’t think I can ever be able to play at the highest level again, so it is time I focus on something different. Ndahinduka, who racked up 16 appearances for the national team Amavubi, made history as the first and so far the only player to make his international debut while featuring in the second division league. He is best remembered for his strike as Rwanda beat Congo-Brazzaville 2-0 in Kigali during the qualifiers for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals tournament. During his breakthrough 2012/13 season, during which he inspired Bugesera to the semi-finals of the Peace Cup tournament, Ndahinduka scored 28 goals in all competitions before switching to APR in July 2013. At APR, he would also help the club to three league titles, one Peace Cup and the final of the 2014 Cecafa Kagame Cup, before signing with AS Kigali in 2016 where he played until the end of the 2017/18 season. He sustained his career-ending injury last year during a league match against former club AS Kigali.
