RWANDA’s Amavubi Stars will play the Elephants of Ivory Coast on January 7 in Dar es Salaam ahead of the latter’s departure to Angola for the Nations’ Cup finals.

Rwanda Football federation boss, Brig. Gen. Jean Bosco Kazura confirmed the development yesterday. He said that Amavubi will travel to Dar es Salaam on January 6, play on January 7 and return back to Kigali the following day.

"The match is one of the several matches that the federation is relying on raise the standard of the youthful team.

"We have been invited by Tanzania football federation (TFF) to play against Ivory Coast in a build-up on the scheduled date,” Kazura told Times Sport yesterday.

He noted the match against a team on which most Africans are putting their hope of doing well at the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa, will be a major boost for Amavubi Stars as part of their preparations for the upcoming CHAN qualifiers.

Ivory Coast, led by Chelsea striker Didier Drogba will train in Tanzania before traveling to Angola.

The decision was reached early this week in Dar es Salaam at a joint press conference between Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) and their Ivory Coast counterparts.

According to reports, TFF and the Ivory Coast delegation will meet the costs of Rwanda’s participation in the arrangement.
The coach of the Elephants, Vahid Hallilhodzic was also present at the press conference.

The Ivorians are also set to will play two friendly matches against the Taifa Stars in the first week of January.

Tanzania has been promoting itself as a training destination for the teams going to the World Cup finals in South Africa.

The federation officials say they are still contacting other nations over the possibility of stopping over in Tanzania.

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