Rwanda Football Federation on Saturday said that the U-20 national football team will not compete at the upcoming Cecafa U-20 Cup tournament in Tanzania as most of the national team players are students who need to return back school.
In a statement, the football body said that the decision to snub the tournament was taken after consultative discussions between the sports ministry and the ministry of education.
“After a long time in break due to Covid-19, schools have just reopened, the students cannot miss school for the competition,” reads part of the statement.
Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, South Sudan, Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Kenya have initially confirmed they will be part of the qualifiers. The U20 qualifiers will be staged in Tanzania
from November 22 – December 6 while the U17 competition will be played from December 13 – December 28 in Rwanda.
Rwanda was making Group A alongside hosts Tanzania, Somalia and Djibouti in U-20 Cecafa competition.
The winning teams, in both U-17 and U-20 tourneys, will represent the Cecafa region in the Africa Cup of Nations of the respective age brackets.
CU/abj/APA