Rwanda will not be sending a team to Confederations of Southern Football Association (Cosafa) U-20 Cup scheduled for December 7-16 in South Africa’s North West Provience .

This is after the Rwanda announced its withdrawal from the competition citing technical challenges.

“Much as we had wanted to take part in the championship in a bid to develop our upcoming talents, we have been faced with a challenge of assembling a national Under-20 team since the majority of the players are part of our first division clubs featuring in the 2016/17 Azam Rwanda Premier League season,” said the president of the Federation Rwandaise de Football Association, Mr Vincent Nzamwita.

However soka25east has learnt that the Federation Rwandaise de Football Association has opted for more prestigious Morroco U-20 Patner Tournament slated for November 9-13 in Rabat.

Latest reports indicate that Rwanda head coach Mashami Vincent has already summoned a 26-man squad with training having began on Tuesday afternoon with departure date set to be on 7th November.

Following that move COSAFA has named a replacement with Democratic Republic of Congo taking the place of Rwanda in the three team Group D at the championships,which also include Mozambique and Comoros.

“We are obviously disappointed with the withdrawal of Rwanda from the COSAFA Under-20 Championships as we were looking forward to seeing what this bright young side would bring to the tournament, especially after neighbours Kenya reached the final in 2013. But we understand their reasoning and are convinced that DR Congo will be a worthy replacement, bringing yet another different style of football to the competition,” says Chairman of COSAFA’s Competitions Committee, Mr Timothy Shongwe.

Zambia have been the most successful side in the history of the COSAFA Under-20 Championships with 10 victories to their name, followed by Zimbabwe with six.

Defending champions South Africa have claimed five titles with Madagascar the only other team to lift the trophy after 2005 triumph.