AS Kigali’s success offers hope for Rwanda

Last year’s Peace Cup winners, AS Kigali, have become Rwanda’s Cinderella story in the football sense. They aren’t big spenders like Police FC, or traditionally strong like APR and neither do they have a strong fan base like Rayon Sports. Yet, step by step, they have won cups, contended for the league title and are doing Rwanda proud on the continental level. Having won the first leg of their first round tie against Al Ahly Shendi at home in the Caf Confederation Cup, AS Kigali  put themselves in a good position to qualify to the second round of Africa’s second biggest club competition. Most arguments I engaged in at the time were dominated by pessimists, who believed that the Sudanese side, with more experience in the competition, would annihilate the City of Kigali team in the second tie in Khartoum – but very wrong they were.