The first round of the national football league is coming to a close. Some teams are already done with their games, while others are left with few to go. Saturday Sport recaps the main events that have so far made headlines.

New season, new league sponsor

On August 24, 2015, a month before the league started, Rwanda Football Federation (FERWAFA) struck a mega $2.35m sponsorship deal with Tanzanian pay television company Azam TV that will run for five years.

Following the signing of the multi-million sponsorship deal and broadcasting rights package, the league was renamed Azam Rwanda Premier League after Bralirwa, who had been the major league sponsors for the past few years dragged their feet over a new deal in 2014.

The major point of contention for the brewery company was that their main competitor Skol had signed a Euro 50,000 three-year deal with league giants Rayon Sports.

The five year sponsorship will see Azam pump $350,000 in the first year and will increase the amount to $500,000 in each of the following four years with all the 16 teams playing in the league among the major beneficiaries.

However despite that, the question for Azam TV as the official broadcast partner still remains as no game is yet to be televised live halfway into the season.

Expansion of the league to 16 teams

After signing the Azam TV deal, the number of teams competing in the national league was increased from 14 teams to 16.

This was one of the decisions taken by FERWAFA during their two-day extraordinary general assembly with stakeholders on August 29-30, 2015 at Boni Consili Hotel, Huye District.

The two teams that were added are AS Muhanga and Etincelles, who ironically, are occupying the last two places in the league table standing.

Rubavu-based Etincelles FC, who are second bottom, had been relegated from the top flight division a year before while AS Muhanga had dropped out of the league two years earlier.

Increasing the number of teams playing in the league was part of the agreement between FERWAFA and Azam TV.

September 18, the league kicks off

The 2015/16 season got underway on September 18, with defending champions APR and Peace Cup winners, Police FC, who had signed a total of 14 new players between them as well as AS Kigali that finished second last season, one point behind APR starting as favourites to challenge for the title.

However; as the league season reaches mid-way and still counting, there have been a little bit of surprises with new title challengers surfacing in Mukura VS, who sit at the summit of the league table with 32 points, four ahead of second-placed AS Kigali, with APR sitting a point further behind.

League put on hold for three months

After match day 9, the league was put on hold on November 7, 2015 to give room to the national football team to prepare for the fourth edition of Africa Nations Championship CHAN which was held in Rwanda from January 16 through February 7.

AS Kigali went into the break leading  the league table with 18 points, level with Rayon Sports, but Eric Nshimiyimana’s team had one game in hand, while the defending champions APR FC were in third position with 18 points but having scored fewer goals.

CHAN 2016 hosts Rwanda reached the quarter-finals of the biennial tournament that attracted a total of 16 nations before crashing against DR Congo after a 2-1 loss in extra time. Congo went on to win the title after defeating Mali 3-0 in the final at Amahoro National Stadium.

The break was also meant to allow Amavubi prepare for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia qualifiers against Libya—Rwanda was knocked out from the competition after losing 1-0 in the first leg played in Tunisia and 3-1 in the second leg at Kigali Regional Stadium.

Fresh from this frustration, Coach Johnny Mckinstry took his team to Ethiopia for the CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup that took place fromNovember 21-December 6. In Addis Ababab, Amavubi had put on a good fight but lost to Uganda Cranes 1-0 in the final.

Rayon Sports organise Christmas Cup

Due to a long league break and following complaints by some club coaches that teams have lost their rhythm because of not playing, Rayon Sports organised a two-week tournament dubbed ‘Christmas Cup’ which ran from November 25 to December 4.

The tournament attracted eight teams: Group had Rayon Sports, SC Kiyovu, Gicumbi FC and SC Villa from Uganda, while Group B included AS Kigali, Mukura VC, Police FC and Bukavu Dawa from DR Congo.

AS Kigali won the Cup after beating Mukura Victory Sports 5-4 on penalty shoot-outs in the final played at Mumena stadium in Nyamirambo after the game ended 1-1 while organizers Rayon Sport finished fourth behind SC Kiyovu after also losing 5-4 on penalties following 1-1 draw.

February 12, the league resumes

With the conclusion of CHAN that left many Rwandans more familiar with DR Congo’s famous song ‘Ecottite’, the national league resumed on February 12.

The league returned with a lot of changes in place where Mukura returned to their home ground at Huye stadium, which had been under renovation for the past five years—Huye stadium has since been a fortress for Godfroid Okoko’s team.

AS Kigali also had a revamped Kigali Regional Stadium, and so are Etincelles and Marines FC at Umuganda stadium. The three stadiums hosted Group B, C and D in the CHAN tournament.

With the league first round nearing conclusion, Mukura, who have completed their 15 first round matches lead the league table with 32 points and saw their eight-match winning streak ended by Bugesera FC 1-0 on Tuesday.

AS Kigali, with two games in hand, are second with 28 points, APR and Rayon Sports occupy third and fourth positions with 27 and 25 points respectively having played two games less while Police are fifth with 21 points and four games to complete the first round.

Managerial changes

As one would expect, the first half of the season has left a number of coaching casualties through sacking and resignations.

Unsurprisingly Rayon Sports have already used three coaches this season, and with another five months before the end of season, anything can happen at Rwanda’s most supported but also troubled club.

 The first to come and go was Frenchman David Donadei, who began the season with the club but resigned barely two months later—he signed in September, taking over from Jean Baptiste Kayiranga, who had led the club to the Peace Cup final but lost 1-0 to Police FC.

Ivan Jacky Minnaert was appointed to replace Donadei but the Belgian also resigned just over a week ago to join Kenya’s AFC Leopards. The club moved to quickly to fill the void by putting Djuma Masudi, a former club captain and striker in charge as interim coach.

SC Kiyovu has also had several changes. Before the league kicked off, the club unveiled Samuel Amamba as their new head coach however; the Nigerian did not even take charge of a single game and was sacked after three days following claims that he had used fake documents to apply for the job.

Former Isonga FC coach Innocent Seninga was appointed head coach, but in January, he was also sacked after a poor run of results and replaced with Yves Rwasamanzi.

Sunrise also appointed former Rwanda international Jimmy Mulisa in the lead to the league start but he was later replaced by Thierry Nzungu after Mulisa was appointed FERWAFA technical director.

Nzungu was also replaced by former Rayon Sports assistant coach, Sosthene Habimana, who is currently in charge. Musanze also parted company with Tanzania-born coach Barack Hussein and appointed former Uganda international, George Semwogerere.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw