In the recent past, concerns circulated that local football and particularly, the national team Amavubi was done to death.

That was then followed by resignations of top officials of the football governing body, FERWAFA. Thereafter, a new team headed by the now president of FERWAFA Celestin Ntagungira took office, and theirs was a big task of bringing sanity to local football and restoring the national team’s former glory; besides hope. So far, the new team seem to be getting things right as Amavubi is back winning games. According to the FERWAFA boss, coordination between the Ministry of Sports, FERWAFA, the new head coach, the technical bench, the medical team and the players was the major reason for the recent changed fortunes of Amavubi. This is a strategy the new team had to come up with since by the time he took office, there was no proper coordination among the afore-mentioned entities. The other factors that he says contributed to Amavubi’s changed fortunes as witnessed lately including reaching the finals of last month’s CECAFA’s Senior Challenge Cup, include the motivation of players by giving them reasonable salaries and wages and proper selection of players for national duty. He further adds that these cannot be achieved without proper management. As the team prepares for the World Cup qualifiers, fans hope that the team does them proud by making a maiden appearance in the Brazil 2014 global soccer extravaganza.

Since 1994, the country’s football governing body has always been headed by one of the top military brass, until recently when the monotony was broken. For the first time, a civilian, Celestin Ntagungira aka Abega, took over as the president of FERWAFA. Abega replaced Brig. Gen. Jean Bosco Kazura who resigned toward the end of last year amid claims of mismanagement and a host of Amavubi underperformance. To football fans, that came as a surprise. Political influence in sports in most countries around the world has always resulted in poor performance, yet such political connection necessary to open doors for policy and financial support. Yet, if the sport is left to real sportsmen and women, fans cannot be blamed when they raise their ante and demand the success of their teams in the playing field. Was Abega the right man for the job? True. Abega, 45, married with three children has been around football and football administration for long. In1997 he became a CAF/FIFA international referee overseeing many matches internationally Being around the sport since the early 1990’s, having experience in national and international refereeing, being acknowledgeable about local administrative problems and being aware of CAF/FIFA rules qualifies Celestin Ntagungira to head FERWAFA. Through his intimate knowledge of the game, we believe he can lead to a turnaround of the country’s soccer.