The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has written to Rwanda’s football governing body (FERWAFA) expressing its intention to assess the Huye Stadium artificial pitch’s suitability to host CAF/FIFA Grade A international matches.
The development comes after South Africa and Zimbabwe complained to CAF concerning the quality of the pitch in the field of play experienced during their 2026 Africa World Cup qualifiers against Rwanda in November.
After Bafana suffered a 2-0 defeat against Amavubi in their Group C World Cup qualifier, coach Hugo Broos questioned the state of the pitch and asked how FIFA approved the Stadium to host international matches.
Read Also: Hugo Broos blames Bafana Bafana defeat on Rwanda pitch
“When you see the first 20 minutes it’s unbelievable that a qualifier of a World Cup is played on such a pitch,” Broos said after the game, adding: “It’s impossible. But okay, it is what it is and I think FIFA has to be stricter on the rules where you going to play, we are talking about professional football, we’re talking about qualifiers of the biggest tournament [in the world], then you play on such a pitch.”
He added: “We’re talking about professional football and this pitch is not professional, and you don’t let an opponent travel three hours from an airport for their destination, this is only my remark, nothing to do with the defeat of today.”
A statement from FERWAFA confirmed CAF’s intention by saying: “CAF will undertake an independent inspection of the Huye Stadium conducted by an artificial pitch expert, to assess the current stage of the pitch for use in CAF/FIFA senior A international matches,” adding: “We underline that the CAF decision will be made based on the status of the stadium and the level of compliance reported at the time of inspection.”
The federation was therefore requested to make a schedule to visit the facility and, based on the inspection report, a decision will be taken by CAF regarding the approval of the stadium. Rwanda’s next immediate assignments will be away games against Benin and Lesotho in June 2023 while their next home is scheduled in March 2025 against Nigeria.
- Additional report by Rwanda Times.