{"id":2000102600,"date":"2026-02-20T17:09:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T15:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/?p=2000102600"},"modified":"2026-02-22T15:05:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T13:05:08","slug":"sudans-al-merrikh-praises-rwandas-hospitality-sets-sights-on-football-academy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/sudans-al-merrikh-praises-rwandas-hospitality-sets-sights-on-football-academy\/","title":{"rendered":"Sudan\u2019s Al-Merrikh praises Rwanda\u2019s hospitality, sets sights on football academy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mohamed Musa Al Kando, a board member of Al-Merrikh, thanked the Rwandan government and people for their support in a statement released on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u201cThanks to the government and nation of Rwanda for welcoming our two big teams and, before that, welcoming the Sudanese people during this hard time of war.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al-Merrikh and fellow Sudanese club Al-Hilal SC were cleared to participate in the 2025\/26 Rwanda Premier League in November last year, following the suspension of the Sudan Premier League in April 2023, which prompted the clubs to seek temporary relocation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The clubs have received support from the Rwanda Football Federation and the league organizers, helping them integrate smoothly into the competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was very happy when I arrived in Kigali just two days before the big derby and we won,\u201d Al Kando said, reflecting on their recent success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al-Merrikh plans to build stronger ties with local clubs through collaboration and experience sharing, and the board is also considering establishing a Merrikh Academy in Rwanda in the near future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, Al-Merrikh sits third in the Rwanda Premier League with 37 points, just one point behind Al-Hilal and APR FC, following a 2-1 victory over rivals Al-Hilal SC at Stade Amahoro on Tuesday, February 17, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Al-Merrikh SC has been playing in the Rwanda Premier League since November 2025.<\/strong>
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
In their most recent match, Al-Merrikh SC beat Al-Hilal SC 2-1 in the derby.<\/strong> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Sudanese nationals in Rwanda often turn out to support their teams.<\/strong>
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Al-Merrikh SC has expressed its gratitude to Rwanda for hosting Sudanese teams during the ongoing conflict in Sudan, while also announcing plans to establish a football academy and partnerships with local clubs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000102604,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[151,133],"byline":[192],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000102600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-editors-choice","tag-main-featured-home","byline-wycliffe-nyamasege"],"bylines":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"contributors":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"featured_image":{"id":2000102604,"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/whatsapp_image_2026-02-20_at_10.40_56_am-d2f53.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":1000,"height":666,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/whatsapp_image_2026-02-20_at_10.40_56_am-d2f53.jpg","width":150,"height":100},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/whatsapp_image_2026-02-20_at_10.40_56_am-d2f53.jpg","width":300,"height":200},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/whatsapp_image_2026-02-20_at_10.40_56_am-d2f53.jpg","width":768,"height":511},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/whatsapp_image_2026-02-20_at_10.40_56_am-d2f53.jpg","width":1000,"height":666},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/whatsapp_image_2026-02-20_at_10.40_56_am-d2f53.jpg","width":1000,"height":666}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000102600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000102600"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000102600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000102605,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000102600\/revisions\/2000102605"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000102604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000102600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000102600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000102600"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000102600"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000102600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}