„Next ten years Rwanda will be one of 15 best nations in Africa” – conversation with Rwandan football scout

You probably won’t find another person on the Internet who is so familiar with Rwandan football talents. He knows the vast majority of players with Rwandan roots who play football outside Rwanda. His goal is simple – to make the national team only stronger. I had the opportunity to talk to Ntwari Gad, a Rwandan football scout and creator of the „Rwandan Ballers” profile.

Follow Rwandan Ballers on Twitter/ X

POLSKA WERSJA ROZMOWY

You operate on multiple platforms – Instagram, YouTube and Twitter/ X. What exactly do you do? What can we see on your profiles?

My name is Ntwari Gad, I’m 23 years old. I’m a local scout and my aim is to showing up rising talents in our football system. I also try to reach to all players with rwandan passport that are playing abroad. You know that we are a developing country. There are sectores that are still developing, like for example sport with football in the lead. That is why we need these players players to reinforce our national team. My aim is to making our team stronger.

 

Where did your passion for watching Rwandan football talents come from?

I just love football. When I was a kid I used to watch a lot matches of our national team. You know – we have never been too strong, so I hated to see our team losing. Some time ago I started a platform to reach players with rwandan roots playing abroad. Especially those in Europe and United States because they are better developed than us. If you know our history  then you know that we have a lot Rwandans around the whole world. Most of them migrated because of better possibilities to live, some have kids playing football and look forward to represent their motherland national team. I want to help them in this.

Do you cooperate with any clubs in the field of scouting, or is your work just a passion?

I started it as a passion, just doing it by myself. But now I cooperate with team in second, third divison in Rwanda, and even with the national team. I put two players with Rwandan roots in contact with the national team. One of them is Thierry Musabyimana (2005) who is playing fo Le Havre u19. In the last season he scored 8 goals in the youth teams as a striker, so you can see the potenial. The second one is Yves Hendrickx (2005) from belgian RWDM second team. He plays as as centre-back and sometimes train with the first team. Even they still didn’t make debut for rwandan national team, it is definitly worth to keep eyes on them. National team coaches keep looking at them so it is probably matter of time when they will get a call-up.

Is Rwanda an attractive country for foreign scouts? Many clubs from other countries send their representatives here to look for football talents?

Of course. We have a lot talents coming through the „Ijabo Ryawe Rwanda”. It is a competition that involves the center formation in 5 provinces in Rwanda which are next compete with each other. We have a lot academis, school competitions and u20 championships. There are scouts that keep eyes on these competitions, but we need more of them. In past years few players passed to the big European football clubs. As a example I can give you Abdul Rwatubyaye from macedonian first division current leader FK Shkupi or Djihad Bizimana who plays from Kryvbas which lead in the ukrainian highest league. They came through rwandan football system when it was very poor, so imagine how good talents we have now.

 

There are currently two academiesof European giants operating in Rwanda – PSG and Bayern Munich. Do you think their current presence will have a positive impact on future football generations?

Of course. The first time we attended the PSG Youth World Cup, we won the u11 competitions. The second time in last year we won the u13s. The best players will get a chance to feature with the PSG’s academy in Paris. It is a fantastic opportunity for them and it means for us that we have a lot of work. About Bayern Munich we are also see their impact on our talents. Couple weeks ago one of the boys, Barthazard Ndayishimiye, got invited for 4-months trials in Germany. It is definitly good to have these academies here.

Which Rwandan football clubs do you think have the best football academy?

At this moment the best academy in Rwanda is for sure APR FC Academy, which is called „Intare FA”. The main reason why I think so is beacuse in every team of the first division you can find one, two or maybe even more players who raised there. For examples – Isaac Mitima in Rayon Sports, Eric Rutanga in Police FC or Yves Mugunga in Kiyovu Sports.

 

Let’s add a Polish thread to the conversation – in 2021, Keddy Nsanzimfura, who was once considered the greatest Rwandan talent, was very close to joining Jagiellonia Białystok. Unfortunately, the transaction did not work out, and the player now plays in the Egyptian second division. Do you think Keddy can still remind us of himself and return to the Rwanda national team?

Yeah I think so. He is getting play time and already started to score in Egypt. There are few better teams that have started to look at him so I think he will be back soon in the national team.

Moving on to another talent whose career is going well – Hakim Sahabo. Do you think this is the best talent Rwanda has at the moment?

Of course. He is 18 years old and already doing and incedible job in Standard Liege first team and our national team. He has crazy amount of talent, the best from rwandan players.

In recent years, several footballers who grew up outside Rwanda have decided to represent the country. We could mention York Rafael or the above-mentioned Hakim Sahabo. Do you think that someone can „strengthen” Amavubi in the near future?

Of course. We are on the top of the world cup qualifers group ahead of Nigeria and South Africa. These players that you mentioned have already played their role in that. We are getting many letters from the European-born players and most of them are asking how they can join us.

Which young Rwandan footballers currently playing in Rwanda do you think have a chance of making it to top foreign leagues in the coming years?

I can give two or maybe even three players that I think will go to better league in the coming years; midfilder Jean Bosco Ruboneka from APR FC, Clement Niyigena who also plays for APR as a defender, and Elie Tatou Iradukunda – 17-years old winger playing for Mukura VS.

Elie Tatou Iradukunda’s goal against Rayon Sports in this season

If you had to choose one footballer who is not yet known to the wider public even in Rwanda, but will break into the mainstream in a few years, who would it be?

14-years old Elie Ishimwe. He plays for Tsinda Batsinde in the second divison where he already has 2 goals and 3 assists in current season. At the age of 13 he made a debut in third division. Was on the trails in Bayern Munich and belgian Anderlecht.

Do you think that Rwandan talents should go abroad to develop in better leagues, or is it important for them to stay in Rwanda and raise the level of the domestic league?

Honestly, I can say that it is better to go to Europe than to play in Rwanda. Mainly for economic and technical reasons. You will develop more in football in Europe

Two young foreign players conquered the Rwanda Premier League this season – Ani Elijah from Nigeria and Peter Agblevor from Ghana. Some time ago, Willy Essomba Onana joined Simba SC from Rayon Sports. Do you think one of these strikers will follow his path and join a top club in Africa or a league outside the continent?

They are very good strikers and I hope they will make it soon. But to be honest – for me Ani Elijah has a lot more potenial, like work rate and goal involvement.

Finally, let’s talk about the national team – Amavubi have had a great start in the World Cup qualifiers. Additionally, qualificationsfor the African Cup of Nations are on the horizon, where expectations are high . Do you think that the next few years can be a great time for the Rwandan national team? Where do you see the national team in 10 years and how good can future generations of players be?

Good question. We are leading the table of the world cup qualifers and when you see the plan of FA you can say that we are on our way. They are fighting to keep the momentum by setting strategies for local leagues to have better players. As you see, the number of foreign players that club can register in first divison reached to five. There is a proporsal to even make it to six. The main purpose is to increase or rise up the competition level for players and teams., which will lead us to have strong players to compete. Also as I mentioned before – we are approaching the European/US-born Rwandan players to join us and I think this will help us to reach good level on the continent. I think next ten years we will be one of 15 best national teams in Africa. I see the political and technical factors. We are getting a lot training facilities , collaborating with international teams, setting standards for youth development, FIFA support us – everything of these will help us to achive it.

For the future generations, the only thing that I can say – Develop your mentally and technically just to fit in modern world.

 

POLSKA WERSJA ROZMOWY

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