2026 WCQ: Eagles To Touch Down Rwanda Saturday For Zimbabwe Clash

The Super Eagles’ delegation for Sunday’s 2026 FIFA World Cup African qualifying series Day 2 match against the Warriors of Zimbabwe will arrive in Rwanda in the early hours of Saturday, November 18, 2023.

The party of players and officials will fly to East Africa on a chartered plane that will depart from Victor Attah International Airport at midnight and land in Kigali at dawn, followed by a two-hour road ride to Butare, where the match venue (Huye Stadium) is located.

The 20,000-seat Huye Stadium has artificial turf, but the Eagles have made a collective decision not to be concerned about the playing surface as they chase the most points possible.

Coach Jose Peseiro and his charges quietly committed to confronting the remaining nine matches of the qualification series with a much stronger mentality after a 1-1 draw with Lesotho’s Crocodiles in Uyo on Thursday evening.

With Rwanda on the high-altitude plane, it was determined that the Eagles would fly into the country, conduct official training, and play the match before the strange climate took its toll.

Zimbabwe’s Warriors, who faced Rwanda’s Amavubi in a scoreless first-day match, have been training on the artificial turf of the Huye Stadium since arriving in Rwanda last weekend and faced the home team on the same surface.

The Eagles and Warriors will meet at the Huye Stadium at 3 p.m. Rwanda time (1 p.m. Nigeria time). With a win on Sunday, the Super Eagles will have four points with one-fifth of the season completed.

The referee will be Djiboutian Souleiman Ahmed Djama, who will be backed by fellow countrymen Liban Abdoulrazack Ahmed (assistant referee 1), Rachid Waiss Bouraleh (assistant referee 2), and Mohamed Diraneh Guedi (fourth official).

Eritrea’s Yohannes Ghirmai Ghebregziabher will serve as referee assessor, and Malawi’s Raphael Lyson Humba will serve as match commissioner.