Rwanda Football Federation (Ferwafa) is closing in on signing Irishman Johnny McKinstry as head coach of the national football side, Amavubi Stars.

Ferwafa had earlier announced that they will name Stephen Constantine’s predecessor on March 15 but as of Sunday, they were yet to agree terms with the 29-year-old who has been a favourite since the four-man shortlist was released less than a fortnight ago.

The list has McKinstry, Portuguese tactician Juan Manuel Ferreira de Morais who is currently in charge of Tunisian club Esperance FC, Engin Firat from Germany/Turkey and Hans Michael Weiss (Germany).

In an exclusive interview with Times Sport last week, Ferwafa president Vincent Degaule Nzamwita confirmed that talks with McKinstry had commenced.

Sources within Ferwafa confirmed to this paper that a deal has been agreed with McKinstry however, a few terms are yet to be agreed between both parties.

Ferwafa Chief Executive Officer Olivier Mulindahabi yesterday said, "We are winding down the talks with the new coach and as soon as we agree fully on everything, we shall sign a deal with him and make an official announcement.”

When asked about the timing of the much-awaited announcement, Mulindahabi said, "We really do not have a set date but it can even be today (yesterday) but for sure it will be very soon,” explained Mulindahabi.

McKinstry’s first assignment will be to prepare the Amavubi for the international friendly match against Zambia on March 29 in Lusaka as the national side continue preparations for the 2016 African Nations Championship (Chan).

Rwanda is currently ranked 64th on the latest Fifa world rankings, the highest in the history of football in this country and the upcoming fixtures are expected to further improve this position. McKinstry, a former head coach of the Sierra Leone national side helped the West African country to their highest ranking – 50th position in August 2014 and seventh on the African continent despite failing to qualify for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea.

Nzamwita rates McKinstry as the man for the job and said, "McKinstry is a young coach and we feel that we should give him chance to coach the Amavubi. We know that he lost his job after Sierra Leone fired him for not qualifying for Afcon but really it is because they were playing all their home games away from home because of the Ebola outbreak.”

If he gets the job, he will prepare the Rwanda U-23 side for the first round tie against Somalia in the Rio 2016 Olympic qualifiers that commence the weekend of April 24/25 in Kigali and the return leg will be played on the weekend of May 8/9.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw