African Nations Championship (CHAN) stadiums have turned into a beehive of activity as the tournament kickoff inches closer.

A spot check of the four stadiums makes it evident that organisers of the championship are not leaving anything to chance in the build up to Saturday’s opening ceremony.

From levelling of driveways, replacement of faulty bulbs, levelling the pitch and rigorous cleaning, among other activities, the stadiums are alive and gripped with the CHAN fever.

At Amahoro National Stadium in Kigali, yesterday, various artists set to perform at the opening ceremony were engrossed in rehearsals.

Ranging from musicians, acrobats, dancers to drummers the artists’ rehearsals run all day to ensure that the performance is void of mishaps come Saturday.

Organisers say the penultimate preparations are an extension of the exercise that began last year.

Speaking to The New Times, the Minster for Sports and Culture, Julianne Uwacu, said everything was in place to receive participating teams and for the kick-off.

Uwacu said they had begun receiving some participating teams and officials, including the Confederation of African Football president Issa Hayatou, who arrived into the country last evening.

"Rwanda and Rwandans are ready for the African Nations Championships. It’s been over one year of preparations for CHAN. There are two parts that required preparations; there was the hard task that involved infrastructure and the soft one that involved accommodation and logistics,” Uwacu said.

"For infrastructure, the four stadiums are ready and the service providers ranging from accommodation and logistics to health and banking are all ready.”

At Kigali Regional Stadium, contractors were making final touches on the expanded parking lot while close to 100 workers were planting grass around the stadium.

"It’s a bit late that we are planting grass now, but you can see really that the entire stadium looks beautiful. We wanted to make the environment more appealing,” said Josephine Mukareme, the chairperson of Mukajo Company Ltd, the firm subcontracted to renovate the stadium.

Kigali Regional Stadium in Nyamirambo will host Group C games comprising of Tunisia, Guinea, Nigeria and Niger.

Commercial opportunities

Commercially, the tournament has presented opportunities for a range of business enterprises for small, medium and large scale entrepreneurs.

Beyond the large scale enterprises such as hotels and transport companies contracted to provide services, smaller enterprises such as merchandise retailers are bracing themselves for business.

Football fans are warming up to the start of the championship at which kickoff Rwanda will take on Ivory Coast at Amahoro Stadium.

Fans are expected to provide a huge market to a section of small scale entrepreneurs who will supply them with themed products.

Jean Claude Muhawenimana, the chairperson of the national football team Amavubi Stars fans club, told The New Times that they have been preparing to bring out the best of support when the tournament begins.

"Hundreds of fans have been briefed on how to lead the rest in the stadium and we have also secured a deal with a sports shop to supply us with national team shirts, vuvuzelas and all that we shall need to cheer our team on,” said Muhawenimana.

The fans club has struck a deal with Hope Line Sports shop, located in downtown Kigali, to supply the entire necessary national team’s replica products and other paraphernalia.

The enterprise, Hope Line Sports, is the authorised dealer of the latest national-team fans club shirts in national colours, embedded on Amavubi Fans Club logos.

The shirts are already on sale at Amahoro National Stadium at Rwf15,000, Rwf10,000 and Rwf5,000 depending on the quality.

Aloys Rusagara, of Hope Line Sports, said his shop has printed out all national colours of the countries to participate in CHAN 2016.

A number of retailers have also emerged to avail the jerseys to football fans.

Last week, due to increased demand, 24-year-old Timothy Narambe opened a sportswear shop in Nyamirambo suburb, exclusively selling Amavubi kits.

"My dream was to promote the national team. I think CHAN tournament availed me the right opportunity to have my business known since it is located near the Kigali Regional Stadium,” Narambe said.

Authorised ticket vendors had by yesterday began retailing tickets of the opening match between Rwanda and Ivory Coast scheduled for Saturday at the Amahoro National Stadium.

The retailing of the tickets will be done using an electronic system that organisers say had been tested severally to ensure that fans were protected from fake tickets or second hand tickets with inflated prices.

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THE CHAN TOURNEY 

This is the fourth edition of CHAN and the first continental football showpiece to be hosted in the region.

The tournament sees 16 teams take part in a round robbin format. DR Congo won the maiden event in Ivory Coast, before Tunisia and Libya were crowned champions in the last two editions.

The tournament is held every two years, alternating with the Africa Cup of Nations.

The 16 teams are; Rwanda, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Morocco, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Angola, Cameroon, Tunisia, Guinea, Nigeria, Niger, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mali and Uganda.

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