Rwanda coach Amrouche: ‘Give me one U-17 player’

Rwanda’s Amavubi coach Adel Amrouche has dissected what he thinks is fundamentally wrong with the East African country’s football, beyond blaming coaches.

The Algerian-born Belgian trainer said this during a post-match conference after suffering a home 0-1 loss to Benin, leaders of the 2026 FIFA World Cup’s Group C on Friday.

The Amavubi journey to South Africa, captured in just 1 minute.

From takeoff to touchdown, every heartbeat tells a story.

Urugendo rw’Amavubi kuva Kigali kugera muri Afurika y’Epfo mu munota umwe.

🇷🇼🇷🇼🇷🇼🇷🇼🇷🇼🇷🇼 pic.twitter.com/VesgvYVESj

— Rwanda FA (@FERWAFA) October 11, 2025

The former Burundi and Kenya coach said there was a need for soul-searching in Rwandan football circles and revamp the country’s youth football structures.

“If we need to get somewhere, you must have that structure, that organization and that foundation,” Amrouche explained.

“It is not just about a few days you change the coach and the CEO. You must work. You must have more players progressing in the league. Have a good league, a good youth, under-23 and the league for the youth. We are far; don’t talk about the World Cup when you don’t have the foundation.

🇷🇼 Off to Johannesburg,
hoping to turn every challenge into light.

Amavubi agiye guhaguruka ku kibuga cy’indege yerekeza muri Afurika y’Epfo.

🇷🇼🇷🇼🇷🇼🇷🇼🇷🇼🇷🇼 pic.twitter.com/sEmAa2wMgW

— Rwanda FA (@FERWAFA) October 11, 2025

“…Football without the foundation is impossible. Give me one player under 17 years who can play in the national team. I asked the technical director. He told me: ‘coach we don’t have’. If we don’t have the youth category, to prepare the future, it is difficult to have a good future.”

How Rwanda missed out on the race for World Cup place

Amrouche’s men needed to win at all cost considering they were playing at home but it was not to be. Tosin Aiyegun scored for Benin in the 80th-minute at Amahoro Stadium in Kigali to end the hosts’ World Cup qualification dream.

Amavubi have since left for South Africa to face Bafana Bafana in a must-win for the hosts. Benin lead the table with 17 points, three ahead of Nigeria, who edged Lesotho 2-1 on Friday while Zimbabwe held South Africa 0-0 on the same day. Benin will now take on the Super Eagles.

Amavubi face South Africa in a mere academic match for Group C on Tuesday.

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