Rwanda U-23 football team’s friendly game with their South African counterparts will be played onJuly 25 instead of March 25 in Johannesburg as had been initially scheduled.

The Junior Wasps are preparing for the Caf U-23 Championship scheduled for December 5-19 in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

According to a statement from the Rwanda Football Association (Ferwafa), the match has been postponed on recommendation of the South Africa Football Association (Safa).

"They asked us to have the game postponed to July which we have agreed, but we will continue to look elsewhere for friendlies with other teams because we want to prepare the team well for the 2016 Olympic Games qualifiers,” Ferwafa president Vincent Nzamwita said.

The U23 team is preparing for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games first round qualifiers against Somalia with the first leg scheduled for the weekend of April 24/25 and the return leg two weeks later in Mogadishu.

If Rwanda eliminates Somalia, they must overcome Uganda in the second round and Egypt in the third round to qualify for the December showpiece where the top three teams will qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.

Meanwhile, the one game that will go ahead as planned is the international between Amavubi and Zambia on March 29 in Lusaka as part of preparations for 2016 African Nations Championship (Chan) which will be staged in Rwanda from January 16-February 7.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw