APR FC and U-20 Wasps midfielder Eric Nsabimana, who suffered a serious knee injury in August, will be sidelined until at least July, next year, it has emerged.

He becomes the second top Turbo King Football League player certain to miss the 2013/14 season after Rwanda international and Rayon Sports’ defender Faustin Usengimana.

Nsabimana tore his knee ligaments in August while on duty with the national team during preparations for this year’s Francophone Games, which were held in Nice, France.

"Now I feel better than one or two months before and hope to come back to my best sometime mid next year, probably by July I should be able play,” he said.

That means the injury rules him out of the whole of the current season, a major setback for a player who is highly rated.

Another young star whose season was cut short with a bad injury is Rayon Sports’ central defender Faustin Usengimana, who suffered a devastating double fracture in the right leg on the first day of the season.

Both players have to start on physiotherapy after which they will undergo muscle rehabilitation, strengthening, and sport-specific rehabilitation before they could be declared fit to return to full training.

Usengimana will is also certain to miss CAF Champions League and the early rounds of the Peace Cup competition.

It’s the second time that Usengimana has suffered a serious injury.

In 2011, a knee injury ruled him out of the Fifa Under-17 World Cup finals in Mexico after playing just 20 minutes in the second group stage match against Uruguay.

He made a comeback after nearly eight months when he joined Isonga before returning to Rayon Sports a season later, whom he then helped them to their first league title in nine years last season.