RWANDA U-23 team will play Zambia in the 2012 London Olympics preliminary men’s football qualifiers, Ferwafa Chief Executive Officer, Jules Kalisa said over the weekend.

"We (Rwanda) were drawn against Zambia for the 2012 Olympic Games qualifiers, which start next year” said Kalisa.

Amavubi Stars head coach Sellas Tetteh will manage the U-23 side and the federation will name his assistants before the end of this year.

Lowly ranked teams will play home-and-away playoff in Round One and the winners will qualify for the second round.

First leg of the first round will be played on February 23, 2011, while the return leg will be played on March 9.
The Round One winners will join the highest ranked teams in Round Two and 12 teams will make it to the third round after playing home-and-away playoff on June 19, 2011, and June 23, 2011.

The teams will be divided into three groups of four teams each in the third round which will have a home-and-away format. The winners of each group will qualify for the 2012 London Olympics.

All the second-placed teams will play in a round robin format and the winner will take on Asia Confederation body’s representative for a place in the Olympics.

The third round matches will be played on September 21, 2011, November 23, November 27, February 5, 2012, February 22 and March 14.

The round robin matches between the second-placed teams will be played at a centralized venue from March 25 to 29, 2012.

Rwanda’s football team has never qualified for Olympics Games. For the last Games held in Beijing, China, Rwanda was eliminated by Morocco.

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