Retiring Olivier Karekezi receives glowing tribute

The Minister for Sports and Culture, Protais Mitali, has hailed the retiring former Amavubi Stars captain Olivier ‘Fils’ Karekezi, describing him as a role model for the younger generation.Mitali is one of several officials who took turn to heap praises on arguably one of the country’s most talented players of all time.A serious knee injury forced Karekezi, 30, to cut short his playing career last week, thus denying him the opportunity to see out the eight months that remained on his two-year contract with Tunisian club CA Bizertin.“We thank him for his great contribution to the national team; he was a great player for the country, he will be missed by the team,” Minister Mitali told Times Sport on Tuesday.The minister said: “He will always be called upon when needed to contribute to the development our football because he is a role model for the younger players, they will always want to learn from him.”Karekezi, who scored 25 goals from 53 appearances for his country), announced retirement from international football about three months ago.He was part of the Amavubi side that featured in 2004 Nations Cup finals in Tunisia – the country’s most successful football team to date.He retained a regular place in the national team until recently.The striker suffered a left knee injury while playing for CA Bizertin against CAF Confederation Cup champions Club Sfaxien in a Tunisian league match last month.Karekezi’s former teammate and later on coach Eric Nshimiyimana said of the former captain: “Karekezi is probably the best player this country has ever produced and if he has decided to retire while he could still carry on (playing), we must respect his decision.”“It was a pleasure to have played alongside him (for country and club), and also to coach him at both levels, it is always the coach’s wish to work with that type of players because they’re a big influence on the rest of the team,” added the Amavubi Stars head coach, who was also part of the CAN 2004 national team.Nshimiyimana added: “He was a great player who had passion for football, who listened to advice, he always wanted to learn and we thank him because he always gave his best to the national team.”The interim chairperson of Rwanda Football Association (Ferwafa), Celestin ‘Abega’ Ntagungira, said: “Karekezi was an outstanding footballer, a role model and he always led by example.”“He was a good captain, responsible, had good knowledge of the game, loved to play for the national team and always worked hard to win matches,” he said. “In my two years as the Ferwafa chairperson, we have been very close because he was the national captain; he was a leader on and off the field.”Illustrious careerKarekezi’s retirement ended a 13-year stellar football career of the country’s remaining truly talented footballer.Karekezi made his debut for Amavubi in 2000 during a two-all clash against Cote d’Ivoire in the qualifiers of the 2002 Fifa World Cup.The former APR striker scored his first international goal against Somalia during a Cecafa Challenge Cup in a 3-0 win for Amavubi Stars.Karekezi joined CA Bizertin last year after a successful second stint with APR. He left after helping the military side to a record 13th national football league title as well as the MTN Peace Cup, having scored 14 goals.His career started with APR way back in 2000 before he left to join Sweden’s top division club Helsingborgs IF in 2005.He scored five goals in 18 matches during the 2005 season.In 2006, he scored 11 goals for Helsingborg, becoming the top scorer in Allsvenskan.