The Rwanda national football team represents

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

in international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and is controlled by the Rwandese Association Football Federation, the

governing body A governing body is a group of people that has the authority to exercise governance over an organization or political entity. The most formal is a government, a body whose sole responsibility and authority is to make binding decisions in a taken ...

of football in Rwanda, and competes as a member of the

Confederation of African Football The Confederation of African Football (CAF) is the administrative and controlling body for association football, beach soccer, and futsal in Africa. It was established on 8 February 1957 at the ''Grand Hotel'' in Khartoum, Sudan. At the FIFA Co ...

(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 Kinyarwanda, Rwandan or Rwanda, officially known as Ikinyarwanda, is a Bantu language and the national language of Rwanda. It is a dialect of the Rwanda-Rundi language that is also spoken in adjacent parts of the Democratic Republic of the ...

for ''The Wasps''), and primarily plays its home games at the

Stade Amahoro The Amahoro Stadium (; ; Kinyarwanda for "Peace Stadium"), officially known as Amahoro National Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in the Gasabo district of Kigali, Rwanda. With a capacity of 45,508, it is the largest stadium in Rwanda and hosts ...

Kigali Kigali () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is near the nation's geographic centre in a region of rolling hills, with a series of valleys and ridges joined by steep slopes. As a primate city, Kigali is a relativ ...

, the nation's capital. They have never qualified for a

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

finals, and reached their only

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

History

Rwanda qualified for its first ever

in the 2004 edition. At the tournament, they lost their opening match 2–1 to

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

before winning their first ever point in the competition after a 1–1 draw against

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

. Rwanda went on to beat

DR Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

in their final group 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

were eliminated.

Team image

Kit

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 Adidas AG (; stylized in all lowercase since 1949) is a German athletic apparel and footwear corporation headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the ...

has generally been the manufacturer for the Rwandan team since 2001. However, between 2004 and 2009, Rwanda used L-sport as their outfitter, and in 2015 the side started wearing kit provided by AMS, an emerging Australian supplier.

Names

Under the official FIFA Trigramme the team's name is abbreviated as RWA; this acronym is used by

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

, the CAF and the

CECAFA The Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (, , , ; officially abbreviated as CECAFA) is an association of the football playing nations in mostly East Africa and parts of Central Africa. An affiliate of the Confederation of Afr ...

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, ''Repubulika y'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

Wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder ...

s).

Results and fixtures

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

2024

2025

Coaching history

:Caretaker managers are listed in ''italics''. *

Otto Pfister Otto Martin Pfister (born 24 November 1937) is a German former football manager and one of Germany's most successful coaching exports, voted Africa's ''Manager of the Year'' in 1992. He is formerly the manager of the Afghanistan national team. ...

(1972–76) *

Metin Türel Metin Türel (13 September 1937 – 17 November 2018) was a Turkish football player and coach. Türel coached many teams in Turkey, including the Turkey national team from 1977 to 1978. He started his professional career with Galatasaray and al ...

(1991) * Longin Rudasingwa (1998-1999) * Rudi Gutendorf (1999–00) * '' Longin Rudasingwa'' (2000–01) * Ratomir Dujković (2001–04) * Roger Palmgren (2004–05) * Michael Nees (2006–07) * Josip Kuže (2007–08) * '' Raoul Shungu'' (2008) * Branko Tucak (2008–09) * '' Eric Nshimiyimana'' (2009–10) * Sellas Tetteh (2010–11) * Milutin Sredojević (2011–13) * Eric Nshimiyimana (2013–14) * Stephen Constantine (2014–2015) * '' Lee Johnson'' (2015) * Johnny McKinstry (2015–16) * '' Gilbert Kanyankore'' (2016) * '' Jimmy Mulisa'' (2016) * Antoine Hey (2017–2018) * François Karekezi * Vincent Mashami (2018–2022) * Carlos Alós (2022–2023) * '' Gerard Buscher'' (2023) * Torsten Spittler (2023–)

Players

Current squad

The following players were called up for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF Group C matches against

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

and

Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...

on 21 and 25 March 2025. :''Caps and goals correct as of 25 March 2025, after the match against

.''

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up for Rwanda in the last 12 months. *^DEC Player refused to join the team after the call-up. *^INJ Player withdrew from the squad due to an injury. *^PRE Preliminary squad. *^RET Player has retired from international football. *^SUS Serving suspension.

Player records

:''Players in bold are still active with Rwanda.''

Most appearances

Top goalscorers

Competition records

FIFA World Cup

Africa Cup of Nations

African Nations Championship

CECAFA Cup

Honours

Regional

* CECAFA Cup ** Winners (1):

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

** Runners-up (6):

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

** Third place (4):

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

References

External links

*
Rwanda
at CAF
Rwanda
at

Rwanda national football team pictureDiscover Rwanda
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rwanda National Football Team African national association football teams