january-2012

Above left: Coach Milutin Sredojevic insists on pre-match prayers Above right: Rwanda’s fans in fine voice as their team head to victory
Rwanda Football Federation, was one of Africa’s greatest
referees, and knows what it means to be part of the biggest
show on earth. He officiated at two World Cup finals, in
2006 and 2010, as well as two Africa Cup of Nations finals.
“Being part of the referee team at the World Cup was the top
of my career,” Ntagungira says, while the crowd cheer their
players as they take shooting practice. “Now we need young,
professional players who have quality. We are organising a team
to qualify for the World Cup. It is not easy. We’ve built another
generation of football, with coaches, players
and referees; it’s like building another nation.
Everything is new. Now we have a nice pitch, a
new building for the federation. Football is better
here than it was 10 years ago, but we have to do
more to be at the top of Africa. Football can project
a good image of our country.”
True calling
Sredojevic is a religious man. He insists that the
team pray together before and after training, so it’s
perhaps unsurprising that he sees football and religion in
Rwanda – a deeply Christian country – as two sides of the same
coin. “In football, Africa has the biggest space for development…
It is a second religion here,” he says, as his team board the bus
for their flight to Eritrea for the first leg of the qualifier.
“Everyone has their own religion – Christianity, Islam or
whatever it is. But football is one of the biggest religions of
Africa, and we want to be preachers of that religion.”
Come match day, however, Sredojevic’s campaign doesn’t get
off to the best of starts. In Rwanda, the whole country – unable
to watch the game on TV due to technical restrictions in Eritrea
– sits huddled around radios, while the single Rwandan football
journalist in Asmara relays the action via his mobile, only
interrupted when his phone goes dead or runs out of credit. It’s
It’s like
building
a nation…
football can
project a
good image
brussels airlines b.spirit! magazine jan-feb
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a tense game, and in the first half Rwanda go behind to Eritrea
– a team ranked 190th out of 203 by FIFA – before equalising in
the second half thanks to Elias Uzamukunda, Rwanda’s only
foreign-based professional (who plays in France).
Comeback kings
A few days later, and the Amahoro Stadium is almost full. The
ubiquitous vuvuzela and a full military marching band can be
heard in the tunnel as the two teams stand next to each other,
nervously waiting for their cue. Sredojevic gives
some last-minute instruction to his captain Olivier
Karekezi, before they walk out into the light and
a riot of noise. The advice must have been good;
within three minutes Karekezi has bundled the ball
into the back of the net. Two more Rwandan goals
follow, then even a late consolation for Eritrea and
a blast of tropical rain can’t dampen the spirits of
the crowd; Rwanda has taken its first step towards
new beginning for football in the country.
Sredojevic, however – a precise disciplinarian who
exudes the type of authority usually reserved for the military –
isn’t satisfied. “I would rate our performance, given the room for
improvement, as two out of 10,” he says afterwards, as the team
bus waits to take him away. Meanwhile hundreds of children
have crowded round for a chance to touch their heroes,
screaming excitedly as the players greet them.
Next up for Rwanda is the first group-stage in June, which will
see them play Algeria, Benin and Mali. Everyone is happy, except
perhaps Sredojevic the perfectionist. But does he believe his
team has what it takes go on to reach the World Cup finals? His
face cracks into a smile for what feels like the first time in a week.
“In football, anything can happen.”
Brussels Airlines flies to Kigali four times a week