The FERWABA Annual General Assembly has approved a significant expansion in its foreigner quota, allowing foreign players who have been playing in Rwanda for three years to compete in local competitions as a national.
On Saturday, December 16, the 2023 FERWABA general assembly was held in the conference room of the ONOMO Hotel in Kigali, confirming the start date of the 2024 season, new competitions, upgrade in foreigner quota, and welcoming new members.
Foreigner quota was highlighted in the resolutions presented by the Federation’s president, Mr. Desire Mugwiza, during the assembly attended by all club representatives.
The assembly passed a number of resolutions concerning player eligibility and the registration period.
Players’ registration used to start with the league’s first leg of the regular season and end before the second leg began. Teams can now register players for the entire length of the regular season.
This means that all players registration would be completed prior to the playoffs and each club is allowed one naturalized national player in addition to the customary two foreigners.
As a reminder, each side in the league has a maximum of 20 players, including 5 foreigners. However, a team may replace a player at any time as long as they do not exceed the number specified by the rules.
The FERWABA members approved two new local competitions. Rwanda Cup, a new basketball competition open to all D1, D2 clubs and non-league teams, and a Super Cup to kick off the basketball season, which will be played by the league champion and the Cup winner.
Normally, in the Rwanda Basketball League, if a game ends in a tie for the first leg, the second leg game is used as a tie breaker, with the winner receiving four points from two games and the loser getting two points.
The general assembly, GA decided that starting with the next season, overtime shall be applied to determine the game’s winner.
For the first time, the players were represented in the general assembly. Desire Mugwiza, the head of the local governing body for basketball, believes that players should have a say in the decisions made in regards to the direction of this game.
He said: “This game is built on the players; the club would not exist without the players, and the federation would not exist without the players; we always meet with club presidents and forget that the players are the main actors in the game.”
“We resolved at the last general assembly to set up a body representing the players, which will attend the GA, give the players’ viewpoints to the assembly, and be notified of the resolutions; so that there is an organ that speaks for them.” The Federation’s head stated
Mr. Desire Mugwiza urged members to honor the athlete’s contract in order to go to the professional league. He also asked the players to respect the clubs, and insists that the rules and punishments have been established for either party who violates the contract.
The President of the Federation also informed the media that a U-18 league will be launched to help kids from the Jr. NBA League in their development. It will be played with teams that have junior teams in their initial season, and he emphasized that it will be totally effective in the next two seasons.
EAUR and Kepler, both in the women’s category, were welcomed as new members during the Assembly.
The members also confirmed that, beginning with the 2025 season, the Rwanda Basketball League will be professional and comply with the rules. Hence, it will be the first professional local league in existence.
The 2024 Rwanda Basketball League will tentatively tipoff on 9th February featuring 10 men’s teams and a record 10 women’s teams. For the first time in a long time, the men’s competition will feature all ten competing teams from the capital city, Kigali.
