Espoir FC has lodged a protest to the Rwanda football governing body, Ferwafa claiming ownership of striker Govin Mutombo, who is currently playing for Rayon Sports in the CECAFA Kagame Cup.

The Rusizi–based national football league club argue that the DR Congo-born striker is still contracted to them for another one season, according to the club president Albert Nsengimana.

"We need justice to be observed. Mutombo is our player and we have official documents to prove that. We don’t understand how he is playing for Rayon Sports while other players started training a week ago,” the official told Sunday Sport.

He added, "We also want to know on what document did Ferwafa base on to give him a playing license to play for Rayon Sports in the Cecafa Kagame Cup.”

Ferwafa’s Secretary General Olivier Mulindahabi admitted that indeed Mutombo doesn’t belong to Rayon Sports.

"We simply allowed him to play in the CECAFA tournament. He is on trial at Rayon Sports and he wished to use the tournament to catch the eye of the club (Rayon Sports) officials” he disclosed.

Espoir FC argue that they paid Rwf3m for the Congolese forward last season on a two-year contract.

Meanwhile, Rayon Sports president Theogene Ntampaka told this paper in a separate interview that the striker notified them he was a free agent though they (Rayon) have not signed him yet.

He said, "He came to us and said he was free, that Espoir FC still owed him money, and because we urgently needed players for the CECAFA, we took him but we are yet to sign him. If there are issues with his contract at Espoir, we shall sit and discuss with them after the tournament.”

The striker has played in all Rayon Sports matches in the tournament though he has yet to get off the mark.