By Admin,
Rwanda national football team head coach Stephen Constantine has stepped down from his post, Rwanda Football Federation (Ferwafa) spokesman Moussa Hakizimana has confirmed.
According to Hakizimana, Constantine sent a resignation letter to Ferwafa via email on Thursday evening confirming that he will no longer be in charge of the Amavubi.
Speaking to supersport.com, Hakizimana said, “Stephen Constantine will no longer be the head coach of the Amavubi and in his explanation, he said that he got a better deal from India, one better than the one we were offering him.”
The Englishman was earning $11,000 per month since he took over last May guiding Rwanda from 134th on the Fifa world rankings to a historic 68th position.
The 52-year-old tactician shocked Libya 3-0 in his first game eliminating the North Africans from the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers before shocking Congo Brazzaville 4-3 in a penalty shootout.
Rwanda then progressed to the Afcon group stage qualifiers but was banned by Caf for fielding a dual identity player Dady Birori AKA Tady Etekiama Agiti. During Constantine’s tenure, the Amavubi did not concede a single goal at home.
Constantine returns to India on a second stint in charge of the national team having enjoyed a successful stint from 2002-2005 as he guided India to win the LG Cup against Vietnam in his first tournament in charge.
In 2003, India won silver at the inaugural Afro-Asia Games with wins over Rwanda and Zimbabwe in the group stages before losing 1-0 to Uzbekistan in the final.
According to AIFF, Constantine met all their three criteria which included a coach who has experience coaching a national team, one who understands Indian football and the culture as well as someone ready to earn below $20,000 which was the amount his predecessor Wim Koevermans was earning.
The Dutchman’s contract ended last October and the AIFF assured Constantine of their interest in him which he played down throughout December.
Constantine has coached Sudan and Malawi on the African continent as well as Nepal, English club Millwall and Cypriot clubs Apep FC, Nea Salamis Famagusta and Apollon Smyrnis FC in Greece.
In 2011, he was voted best English manager/coach of the year abroad and was also a FIFA coaches’ instructor.
