{"id":4709,"date":"2026-10-19T14:24:54","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T14:24:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/?p=4709"},"modified":"2026-10-19T15:00:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T15:00:15","slug":"amavubi-u17-end-15-year-wait-for-africa-cup-of-nations-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/19\/amavubi-u17-end-15-year-wait-for-africa-cup-of-nations-return\/sports\/","title":{"rendered":"Amavubi U17 end 15-year wait for Africa Cup of Nations return"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Rwanda\u2019s Under-17 national team have qualified for the 2027 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations after beating Ethiopia 2-1 in the third-place play-off of the CECAFA zonal qualifiers at Kigali Pele Stadium on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result takes Rwanda back to the continental tournament for the first time since 2011, when the country hosted the competition and the team reached the final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rwanda made an impressive start, taking the lead in the fifth minute through Heylen Jayden Shema, who scored with a shot from outside the penalty area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isaac Ndizeye doubled the hosts\u2019 advantage in the 16th minute, heading home from a corner to put Rwanda in a strong position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ethiopia responded as the first half progressed and pulled a goal back through Akrem Abduselam Jemal three minutes before the break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The visitors continued to search for an equaliser in the second half, putting pressure on Rwanda\u2019s defence and winning successive corners around the 70th minute. However, the hosts held on to protect their lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rwanda, coached by Jimmy Mulisa, came close to extending the advantage in the 86th minute when substitute Ngiriyandemye Emmanuel struck the post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The victory secured Rwanda one of three places allocated to the CECAFA region at the 2027 continental tournament. Uganda and Somalia had already qualified after reaching the regional final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rwanda\u2019s previous appearance at the Africa U-17 Cup of Nations was in 2011, when the team finished runners-up after losing 2-1 to Burkina Faso in the final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The qualification marks the second time Rwanda will compete at the continental tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rwanda\u2019s Under-17 national team have qualified for the 2027 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations after beating Ethiopia 2-1 in the third-place play-off of the CECAFA […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,43,35,27,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa-news","category-current_affairs","category-regional","category-sports","category-top_stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4709"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4715,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4709\/revisions\/4715"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}