All roads lead to the Amahoro Stadium in Kigali on Friday to witness the 2026 CECAFA Kagame Cup 2026 final between Rayon Sport FC and Kenya’s Gor Mahia FC.
While Gor Mahia will be chasing a fourth regional title, the Rwanda Premier League side will be hoping to collect a second one after they lifted it in 1998.
To reach the final Rayon Sport FC ejected South Sudan’s Jamus SC 3-1, while a 10-man Gor Mahia side battled to a 1-1 draw after 120 and 120 minutes of play, and eventually carried the day 8-7 on penalty shoot outs.
Francis Christian Haringingo, the Rayon Sport FC head coach has made it clear that although they have won all the four matches they have played in the tournament, the final is a different ball game.
“We are happy to reach the final and we shall fight to make sure that we remain with the trophy in Rwanda. Gor Mahia FC is a good team and we shall handle them with a lot of respect,” added Haringingo.
The coach made it clear that the tactical awareness and strategy in dealing with the match will determine major factors. “We beat them 2-0 during the Rayon Day celebrations and we know they will come all out,” added the Rayon Sport Coach.
But the Gor Mahia FC coach Charles Kwablan Akonnor has also sounded a warning ahead of the final making it clear his team will not be an easy nut to crack. “I am always hungry as a coach and my players know what I expect of them. We are aware it will not be an easy game playing a home side that is so disciplined, but we know how we shall handle the match,” added the Ghanaian tactician.
In the group stages Rayon Sport FC stopped KVZ SC (Zanzibar) 2-0, and went on to defeat Tusker FC (Kenya) and Al Hilal SC (Sudan) by the same 1-0 margin. Gor Mahia FC kick started the campaign with a high scoring 5-0 win against Rwanda giants APR FC, lost 1-0 to Uganda’s Vipers FC, and concluded the group campaign with a 1-0 win against Garde Republicaine (Djibouti).
But before the grand finale, the play-off to determine which teams finishes third will see Al Hilal SC face surprise package Jamus SC. The champion will bag US$30,000, while the runner-up takes US$20,000, and the third placed team US$10,000.
