The Minister for Sports and Culture, Julienne Uwacu, has said that the government still considers Antoine Hey as Head Coach of Amavubi despite reports indicating the German had quit his job to take up Syria national team.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Saturday Sport yesterday, Minister Uwacu said they had not received any official request from Hey that he wanted to step down.

"In any contract, there are guidelines for termination it if one or both parties wish to, so we still have a contract with him and he is still the national team head coach,” Uwacu said.

Hey’s one-year contract is due to run out in March but, on Thursday, Amavubi fans woke up to news that he had written to Rwanda Football Federation (FERWAFA) requesting to have his contract terminated.

There were also some reports that he had instead been sacked.

It was also reported in some quarters that the former Kenya coach had already signed a contract with Syria.

But FERWAFA said they will meet with the ministry officials in the upcoming days to review Hey’s request.

Hey also tweeted that he and FERWAFA president Vincent Nzamwita had held a meeting on January 24 at Royal Tulip Hotel in Morocco where the two sides amicably agreed to terminate the contract.

Nzamwita confirmed this saying: "We have agreed to amicably terminate the contract until the new FERWAFA Executive Committee comes in office. The new management will decide to renew his contract or not.”

"We thank Coach Antoine Hey for his professionalism, commitment and discipline that he has instilled in our national team.In one year, he has been with us, he has assembled a strong national team and we believe that, with time, we will be having a strong team,” he noted.

He added: "We wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors. It was great having Coach Hey as the Coach of Rwanda. He is a great manager who represented the country with professionalism and dignity.”

And Hey added: "A special thank you to my Team. You have been wonderful! I am so sorry we could not make our dream come true.”

"We all shared moments that will last forever, sometimes full of joy, sometimes in tears. I would like to thank all our supporters and friends for their belief and their encouragement along our way.”

"It was a true honor and privilege to work as the Head Coach of Amavubi. The working relationship with FERWAFA, the Ministry of Sports, my Technical Staff and our Players was absolutely perfect,” he stated.

"Nobody knows what the future will bring, but maybe one day we will meet again down the road. I came as a stranger but I am leaving as a friend, May God Bless You All,” he wrote on his Twitter handle.

Hey’s record with Amavubi

Hey started his Amavubi career losing against Central African Republic 2-1 in AFCON 2019 Cameroon qualifiers, he went on to draw 1-1 against Tanzania in CHAN 2018 second qualification round first leg before drawing 0-0 at home in the second leg.

Amavubi qualified to the third qualification round, losing 3-0 in the first leg against Uganda before winning the return leg 2-0 in Kigali but it was not enough to avoid Rwanda’s elimination from the CHAN qualifiers.

However, Rwanda got a second chance to book the ticket to CHAN 2018 finals in Morocco after Egypt, who had been invited to replace Kenya (the former designated hosts), withdrew from playing in the tournament.

Rwanda went on to win away against Ethiopia 3-0 in a subsequent play-off qualifier before drawing 0-0 at home in the second leg. Rwanda CHAN team then defeated Sudan 2-1 in a friendly match.

He also took the team to regional CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup finals in Kenya, where they lost two games, drew one and won another.

In January, Hey’s Amavubi played warm-up games ahead of the CHAN tournament, drawing against Sudan 0-0 (for the 40 minutes they played before the match was abandoned amid a brawl between the two teams); before a 1-1 draw against Namibia, and then a 4-1 defeat to Algeria.

At the CHAN 2018 finals, Rwanda played out a goalless draw against Nigeria before beating Equatorial Guinea 1-0 and then crashing to a 1-0 defeat to Libya in stoppage time.

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