The Rwanda national football team represents Rwanda in international football.
It is controlled by the Rwandese Federation of Association Football (French: FédérationRwandaise de Football Association), the governing body of football in Rwanda, and competes as a member of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), as well as the Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA), a CAF sub-confederation that governs football in East and Central Africa.
The team bears the nickname Amavubi (Kinyarwanda for The Wasps), and primarily plays its home games at the Stade Amahoro in Kigali, the nation’s capital.
They have never qualified for a World Cup finals, and reached their first Africa Cup of Nations in 2004.
Rwanda qualified for its first Africa Cup of Nations in 2004. At the tournament they lost their opening match 2–1 to Tunisia before winning their first ever point in the competition after a 1–1 draw against Guinea.
Rwanda went on to beat DR Congo in their final match by a 1–0 scoreline, but it wasn’t enough as elsewhere in the group Guinea and Tunisia drew, meaning both teams progressed to the quarter finals and Rwanda were eliminated.
In 2001, after adopting the new flag of Rwanda, The Federation (FERWAFA) changed the color of the team kit.
The new team kit consists of a yellow jersey, blue shorts and green socks for home matches, while their away kit is either all white or all blue.
Adidas has been the outfitter for the Rwandan team since 2001.However, between 2004 to 2009, Rwanda used L-sport as their outfitter.
Under the official FIFA Trigramme the team’s name is abbreviated as RWA; this acronym is used by FIFA, the CAF and the CECAFA to identify the team in official competitions.
However the team was more commonly known as the RR, the acronym for the country’s official name, Repubulikay’u Rwanda or République du Rwanda, which the local press used when they referred to the team as the RR XI. The national team is often referred to as Amavubi (The Wasps).
Competition records:
World Cup record
1930 to 1986 – Did not enter
1990 – Withdrew
1994 – Did not enter
1998 to 2014 – Did not qualify
Africa Cup of Nations record
1957 to 1980 – Did not enter
1982 to 1984 – Did not qualify
1986 – Did not enter
1988 – Withdrew
1990 to 1998 – Did not enter
2000 to 2002 – Did not qualify
2004 – Round 1
2006 to 2013 – Did not qualify
2015 – Did not qualify
Honours
CECAFA Cup:
Winners (1): 1999
Runners-up (5): 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011.
Head coaches
Germany Otto Pfister (1972–76),Turkey MetinTürel (1991), Germany Rudi Gutendorf (1999–00), Serbia and Montenegro RatomirDujković (2001–04), Sweden Roger Palmgren (2004–05), Germany Michael Nees (2006–07), Croatia Josip Kuže (2007–08), Democratic Republic of the Congo Raoul Shungu (2008, interim), Croatia BrankoTucak (2008–09), Eric Nshimiyimana (2009–10, interim), Ghana SellasTetteh (2010–11), Serbia MilutinSredojević (2011–13), Eric Nshimiyimana (2013–14) and England Stephen Constantine (2014–)
Recent results
AFCON 2015 Qualifiers:
May 18, 2014 Libya 0 – 0 Rwanda (Stade Olympique de Radès)
May 31, 2014 Rwanda 3 – 0 Libya (Stade RégionalNyamirambo)
July 20, 2014 Congo 2–0 Rwanda (Stade Municipal, Pointe-Noire)
August 2, 2014Rwanda 2–0 (4–3 p) Congo (Stade Regional, Nyamirambo)
Fifa friendly matches
November 14, 2014 Morocco 0-0 Rwanda (Marrakech)
December 20, 2014 Rwanda vs Burundi (Kigali)
Ranking History
Date FIFA Ranking position
December 2014 68
November 2014 90
October 2014 95
September 2014 93
August 2014 101
July 2014 109
June 2014 116
May 2014 131
April 2014 129
March 2014 134
February 2014 134
January 2014 130
2013 133
2012 134
2011 106
2010 132
2009 102
2008 78
2007 99
2006 121
2005 89
2004 99
2003 109
2002 130
2001 144
2000 128
1999 146
1998 170
1997 172
1996 159
1995 168
Rwanda average position from FIFA World Ranking creation is 126
Minimum and Maximum
Highest FIFA ranking
68 - December 2014.
Lowest FIFA Ranking
178 - July 1999.
Best Mover
31 - October 2011
Worst mover
17 - July 2009
ENG
Kiny