CAF Champions League: FC Les Aigles du Congo’s trip to Rwanda thrown into doubt

FC Les Aigles du Congo’s decisive CAF Champions League second leg in Rwanda has been overshadowed by a late administrative dispute preventing the Congolese club from travelling to Kigali.

The Kinshasa side were due to fly to Rwanda on Wednesday with a narrow advantage after winning the first leg 1-0. However, the delegation’s travel plans remain uncertain because the club has not yet secured permission for its aircraft to land on Rwandan territory.

The delay has left FC Les Aigles du Congo waiting on the ground as the return fixture draws closer. The match is scheduled to take place on Friday at 18:00, meaning there are fewer than 48 hours before kick-off.

At the centre of the dispute are the landing authorisations required for the team’s arrival in Rwanda. Local authorities are understood to be citing strict health protocols linked to Ebola virus disease as the reason for the additional procedures.

The situation has caused considerable frustration within the Kinshasa camp. Having taken a 1-0 lead into the second match, the Congolese club now faces uncertainty over both its journey and the conditions in which it could arrive for the fixture.

For FC Les Aigles du Congo, the issue is no longer limited to the sporting challenge of protecting their advantage. The team must also contend with a complicated logistical problem, with the delegation unable to confirm its departure while discussions over the landing clearance continue.

The uncertainty has raised questions about whether the match will go ahead as planned and, if it does, what condition the visitors will be in when they reach Rwanda. A journey that was expected to take place on Wednesday has instead become a race against time before Friday evening’s scheduled kick-off.

The club’s 1-0 first-leg victory gives it an advantage in the tie, but that lead has been followed by an increasingly difficult build-up to the return match. The Samourais kinois now find themselves caught in an administrative stand-off, with the final outcome of the travel arrangements still unclear.

What should have been a decisive football occasion in Kigali has therefore become a high-pressure logistical dispute. Until the landing authorisations are resolved, FC Les Aigles du Congo’s route to Rwanda remains uncertain and so does the immediate outlook for the second leg.