Sports minister to tour refurbished Huye Stadium

The Minister of Sports Aurore Mimosa Munyangaju will on Wednesday tour the newly refurbished Huye Stadium ahead of Saturday’s 2023 African Nations Championship return leg qualifier between Rwanda and Ethiopia in Huye District, Southern Province. The 10 000-seat facility has been under renovation since late April prompting Mukura Victory Sports to play the remainder of their 2021/22 league campaign at Kamena Stadium. The stadium needed a facelift to meet international standards and is the only venue so far allowed to host international football matches as per the Confederation of African Football’s required standards. Some 2100 new seats were added to the stadium’s Taba wing to upgrade the stadium’s capacity from 7900 seats to 10 000 upon completion. Some key aspects that were taken into consideration during the renovation works include media area, changing room, public toilets and bathrooms for players as well as the roofing. The venue was in July deemed ready to host international matches. League champions APR FC and Peace Cup holders AS Kigali were expected to play the 2021/2022 Rwanda super cup at the stadium on August 14 but the fixture was at the last minute shifted to Kigali Stadium because it was, according to Munyangaju, ‘pending the official handover’. During the tour, Munyangaju will be joined by officials from the Ministry of infrastructure to assess all the features of the renovated facility before it hosts Saturday’s CHAN second leg qualifier between Amavubi and Ethiopia. Amavubi was held to a goalless draw by Ethiopia at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam on Friday, last week and the team will be gunning for a win in the return leg if they are to qualify. Playing on a neutral ground cost the Ethiopians as the tie was held in Tanzania because the host country doesn't have a stadium that meets the criteria set by the Africa Confederation body, CAF. Huye Stadium is the second biggest stadium in Rwanda after Amahoro stadium which is also under a major upgrade that will see the facility’s capacity improve by 45 000 seats, upon completion, up from the initial 25000-seat capacity.