According to the local football governing body, Rwanda FootballFederation (FERWAFA).
FERWAFA president Vincent Nzamwita said in a
statement on Thursday that Rwanda had informed FIFA of her decision to withdraw
their bid to host the tournament due to "time factor" and
"logistics aspects."
"After submitting our intent last year to
host the tournament and having critically realised that we are left with a few
months to the start of the tournament (between August-October, 2019), we believe
we don't have enough time to logistically meet the minimum requirements of
hosting a successful 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup Tournament that we desire as a
nation," the statement reads in parts.
He adds, "We have talked with our major
stakeholders involved in this process from the onset and we think this is the
right decision to take. We, however, remain committed and open to hosting any
other football event that would be entrusted to us in future."
The delay by FIFA to assess Rwanda's readiness
also hampered plans of ensuring that the facilities requested by FIFA would be
availed on time after the visit, which was initially set for late February, was
later postponed to a later date which is yet to be communicated.
The FIFA inspection visit would have enabled
Rwanda to know the possible areas they needed to work on ahead of the finals
tournament if the hosting rights were to be granted to Rwanda.
After the inspection visit, the FIFA team of
experts would then have to report back to the FIFA Council before a final
decision on the definitive host of the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup would be
announced.
By Mercy Kukah
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