Am committed to Rwanda; we have better things to come – Constantine

Rwanda coach Stephen Constantine says despite the decision by the CAF Appeals Board to uphold the country’s elimination from the Afcon Morocco2015 qualifiers, he remained committed to the Amavumbi and would look ahead to better things with the 2016 hosts of the African Nations Championship (CHAN).

“It is a great shame for us we won fair and square beating both Libya and Congo and to be denied like this hurts, but we will continue to work and try and get better,” Constantine said adding: “For my future, I am committed to Rwanda and we still have much to do.”

On 27th August 2014, the Appeals Board of CAF upheld the decision of the Organizing Committee of the Africa Cup of Nations which disqualified Rwanda from the final group phase of qualifying for AFCON Morocco 2015.

Congo therefore qualified for the last phase of qualification for the Orange AFCON Morocco 2015 and will compete in Group A against Nigeria, South Africa and Sudan in place of Rwanda. Rwanda had appealed the decision of August 17 of the Organising Committee of the Africa Cup of Nations which disqualified Amavymbi based on Article 41 of the AFCON regulations.

The regulation states that any team that has committed fraud on the identity of a player for qualification and/or involved a suspended player, will lose the match and shall be eliminated from the competition by decision of the organizing committee who would decide on such matters with facts clearly established.

It was established that the player Dady Birori, playing with the national team of Rwanda was the same that played in the Champions League with the club AS Vita using the name Etekiama Agiti Tady.

Based on the documents on record, it was evident that the Rwandan federation was aware of this double identity but proceeded to feature the player for the national team while he held a different identity with the club.

CAF website 

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