Kiyovu Sports, once a top force in Rwandan football, have been in the dark over the last couple of years...and it’s getting worse this season, with the club finding itself at the bottom of the table after losing five games in a row.
Financial crisis and current FIFA transfer ban have been hitting the club hard until they brought it down to its knees. From finishing second at the end of both the 2021/22 and 2022/23 seasons to dropping to 6th place during the 2023/24 season and this campaign, the Green Baggies are now in the relegation zone after 6 games.
Since businessman and club president Juvenal Mvukiyehe left in 2023, Kiyovu have never been the same.
The Mumena-based club has on several occasions accused Mvukiyehe of putting them into financial turmoil after the players he signed dragged the team to FIFA over breaching their contracts.
It’s a situation that his successors Jean-François Regis Ndorimana and David Nkurunziza have struggled to address during their tenures.
Realizing that Kiyovu’s problems were only increasing rather than getting solved, Ndorimana left the office to Nkurunziza who was elected as president of the club on May 26.
But he is yet to achieve any form of success either. The club was dragged to FIFA for failing to pay a host of players including Sharaf Eldin Shaiboub who later joined play APR.
After finishing sixth on the table last season, Kiyovu signed a host of players including experienced striker Ernest Sugira and Burundian star Cedric Hamis in order to beef up their squad prior to 2024/25 season. However, the club can't be registered due the persisting transfer ban that FIFA slapped them.
ALSO READ: Sugira insists Kiyovu's crisis is theirs to blame
Hardly has Kiyovu presented even six players on the bench in a league game this season. There were even just 3 substitutes when they lost to Mukura Victory Sports on match day 3 in Kigali before turning to youth players to join the senior team.
After defeating city rivals AS Kigali on match day 1 of the 2024/25 season on August 21, Kiyovu have gone five games without a win as they have lost all their subsequent games and, rather than solving the problems affecting their performances, the club opted to give Burundian head coach Jospin Bipfubusa a four-game suspension on Sunday, October 28 accusing him of poor performance.
Youth team coach Malick Wade is taking charge on an interim basis.
Has Bipfubusa been made a scapegoat?
Things are not right at Kiyovu and this can generally go a long way to affect the coach and the team's performance in general. During the 2023/24 season, former club coach Petros Koukouras complained about their financial woes and lack of professionalism before resigning.
The club may be underperforming but Bipfubusa shouldn’t be taking all the blame as the management know well where it is all going wrong.
The next couple of games, starting from this weekend derby against traditional rivals Rayon Sports, will determine if the majority of the blame should really be put on the door step of the Burundian coach or not.
Financial boost
Kiyovu recently secured a sponsorship deal from Gorilla Coffee worth $50,000 to support their rebuilding efforts. Some of the money should be used to settle outstanding debts owed to the players so that FIFA lifts player registration ban and, hence allow new players to start playing.
Kiyovu is expected to be active again in the January transfer market as they hope to bring in former players Riyad Noordien from South Africa, Mosengo Tansele from DR Congo and a host of others to strengthen their team.
Though they are at the bottom of the table, it is still too early to decided their fate and a major revival could be on the cards if they spend the sponsorship wisely so that they can once again become competitive for the remainder of the season.