Starting next season, the national football league clubs will be allowed to field up to five foreign players after the local football governing body (Ferwafa) approved a 5-5 quota rule regarding the restriction of foreign players in the topflight league. The development follows longstanding pleas from many clubs which have on several occasions been pushing for a move to increase foreign players in the league from three players in a starting line-up under the current 3-3 rule. A meeting held virtually between Ferwafa member clubs on Friday, July 30, saw clubs come to an agreement on the use of five foreign players in each club’s 18-man squad. Under the new quota rule, all the fireign players must be aged below 30. The revised rule puts an end to the 3-3 rule which has been in place since 2013 under which top flight teams have been using only three foreign players in domestic tournaments, prompting clubs to raise concerns that the rule falls short when it comes to giving competition to home players – which, in turn, sinks the level of the league. During a general assembly held in October last year, Ferwafa was reportedly open to letting clubs increase foreign players in the starting line-up from three to five so as to give enough competition to Rwandan players ‘in the best interest’ of the national team. However, the 3-3 rule was maintained after the motion failed to garner enough votes to pass. Clubs that backed the repealing of the 3-3 rule believe that foreign players will push local players to work hard and fight for starting positions, which could, as a result, improve their level of performance. The revised quota rule comes at the time when the transfer market has just opened, and will run until October 15. APR, Police and Marines are the only three top tier sides that strictly only use Rwandan players, since 2013. This publication, however, understands that APR could soon consider beefing up their squad with foreign players after years of struggling to impress in continental competitions despite dominating the local scene.
