The government of Rwanda says its Senior Women’s National Football Team will not participate in the upcoming qualifiers to the 2022 African Women’s Cup of Nations (AWCON) coming up in Morocco.
In an official letter signed by the Secretary General of the country’s Ministry of Sports, Shema Maboko Didier, addressed to the President of the Rwandan Football Federation FERWAFA, on Tuesday October 12, the country officially confirmed its withdrawal from the qualifiers.
In the well detailed letter which was in reply of an earlier demand made by the FA to the structure, the sports governing institution cited numerous reasons justifying its decision to have the team taken off from the forthcoming games.
Apparently, the Rwandan Football Federation on October 05 this year asked for permission from the sports ministry to open camp to begin preparations for the AWCON 2022 qualifiers. A process which included the summoning of players.
This demand was however found unfit and unnecessary by the country’s sports ministry which described the level of the women’s game in the East African country as too low hence no need engaging in such adventures.
“Reference is made to your letter ….dated October 05, 2021 requesting to non-objection to convene the Senior Women’s National Football Staffs and for starting the Camp to prepare for ‘Total Women’s Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2022 Matches.
Referring to the recent performance results from the U20 world cup qualifiers game played against Ethiopia which showed the low level of our women’s football.
Referring to our women football especially recalling the fact that they has not been any championship since 2019 and being mindful of the impact on the sports sector caused by the Covid-19.”
In continuation to that, “As much as we appreciate your intent to have our National Women Football Team represent Rwanda in the AFCON 2022 Women’s Qualifiers.
The recommendation is first made to develop a long-term development plan for women’s football and resume a National Football competition to allow the players to prepare and play first locally before eying to compete in regional and continental competitions.
It is against the above that the request is made for FERWAFA to inform organizers of the upcoming Total Women’s African Cup of Nations 2022 that Rwanda Women National Team will not participate.” The lengthily interwoven letter partly read as the State called for the improvement of the women’s game in the country.
The organ however reassured the FA it will continue being at its disposal for future fruitful collaborations.
“We remain available for further collaboration and support to the development of football.”
Rwanda is paired with Djibouti in the East African zonal qualifiers (First round of qualifiers) to the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations. The country’s withdrawal will hand their opponents maximum points in the two legged games that were built to take place on October 20 and 26 in Djibouti and Kigali respectively. Djibouti will hence have direct qualification to the next round.
A record forty-four teams will be participating in the 2022 AWCON qualifiers with 12 teams including the host expected to compete at the final stage of the competition.
MOLATsportgist 