AS Kigali women football club clinched their record 13th women football league title after a 3-0 victory over Kayonza WFC in what was their last league encounter of the season held at Rwinkwavu football ground on Sunday.
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The victory saw the champions finish on the summit of the table with 53 points, just a point ahead of Inyemera who finished second after they forfeited E.S Mutunda who failed to show up at the venue.
Midfielder Alodie Kayitesi opened the scoring early for the Citizens in the first half, while Zawadi Usanase and Libelle Nibagwire added the second and third goals respectively in the second half to secure the victory that won the club the championship.
"We’re very happy that we finally win the title,” says club head coach Theogenie Mukamusonera
"The opponent was very challenging and we were at risk because the second team on the league table (Inyemera) got three free points, so we had to lose no points to be the champions,” she added.
AS Kigali could have won the title after putting five past IPM WFC last week to open a four-point lead at the top of the table with 50 points.
The league giants, however, saw their title celebrations cut short and wait for the final match day fixture after Inyemera closed the four-point gap to the top to just one point with one match day left after they were awarded three points after winning their forfeit appeal against Kamonyi who used an ineligible player during the pair’s past match which ended in favor of Kamonyi WFC.
Mukamusonera’s ladies knew only a victory over Kayonza WFC was all that they needed to win the title after they were informed that Inyemera were ahead on the table after they were granted three points from a 3-0 forfeit victory over ES Mutunda.
"This season, we faced a tight competition at the top,” Mukamusnera admits, before adding, "but that didn’t bother us.”
"We are not going to sleep because we’re still in the Peace Cup and we have to prepare for the next season also because we will be representing Rwanda at the CAF Women Champions League.”
Unlike the previous seasons, the City of Kigali-sponsored giants faced one of the biggest challenges to the title in years as they had to deal with immense pressure from their closest rivals Inyemera made them wait until the last day to retain the title.
The club was recently hit with a financial crisis that could have cost them the title until their main sponsor intervened and paid the players after they refused to play until they were paid all their due wages.
The title means that the champions will represent Rwanda at African women’s club football next season.