A charity football match between legends of reigning European champions FC Barcelona and a Rwanda select XI team will take place on December 6 at Amahoro national stadium. Former Spain international, now an ambassador for FC Barcelona, Luis Garcia, was recently in the country and met with officials from the Ministry of Sports and Culture. The officials discussed the proposal for the charity match as well as the possible construction of a $10m ‘Barcelona style’ football academy in Rwanda, and also how he (Garcia) could use his profile to boost the country’s tourism through sports. The game was originally planned as part of an event to launch a new academy in Kigali that will operate in conjunction with one in Uganda. However, the Director of Sports in MINISPOC, Emmanuel Bugingo told Times Sport that the proposed construction of the academy is still at the discussion level. “As well as the charity match, the construction of an academy was discussed but it’s still at an early stage because we have to work with our Ugandan counterparts on this,” Bugingo explained. The Barcelona legends team is likely to feature the likes of Garcia, Henrik Larsson and Juliano Belletti while the Rwanda select XI will comprise of players from Azam Rwanda Premier League. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
