If this game is played without sleep, the fan who loses can be killed, the coach who loses can be fired, the player who wins can change his life, the fan who wins can win the trophy,...

When the schedule of the Rwanda league is released, one of the things that many people immediately look at is the day Rayon Sports will play against APR FC. This game has already caught the emotions of Rwandans, as even those who follow the football are asking when it will be played.

This much awaited game is on this Sunday at 9 o'clock at Amaharo Stadium. It is the match on the 20th day of the Rwandan league, where Ishimwe Jean Claude will be played.

This time these two teams are going to meet and it seems that they are in the same situation although one seems to be a little bit higher than the other. Rayon Sports has been in a bad situation for a while now as they have only one win in the last five games of the season.

Defeated by Mukura VS, draw by Musanze FC, team Kiyovu Sports, draw by Amagaju FC and draw by Gasogi United. It means that out of 15 possible points, he got only 6 points, which made him five points ahead of his opponent and now there are only two points.

It is at a time when APR FC seems to be in a good situation because in the last five games of the season they have won three and lost two. It means that out of the possible 15 points they got 9 which has also made them reduce the difference in points that Rayon Sports was throwing where there is currently a difference of two points and before there were five.

They lost to Amagaju 1-0, Kiyovu Sports 2-1, AS Kigali 2-1, Mukura VS 1-0 and Police FC 3-1.

When these two teams last met in the first game of the season, they drew 0-0 at Stade Amahoro in front of 45,000 fans.

The origin of the rivalry between Rayon Sports and APR FC

When the Genocide against the Tutsis was stopped in 1994, these two teams immediately emerged as stronger than the others in Rwanda, since the rebuilding of Kiyovu Sports was difficult.

APR FC, as a military team, did not understand how it could be defeated by a civilian team while Rayon Sports, which was loved by many Rwandans, did not understand how it could be defeated by a team that was in charge soon.

They ended up being the rivals of all time, Kiyovu Sports faced Rayon Sports before the Genocide against the Tutsis, and it ended like that.

Apart from this, these teams are the ones who are winning the championships in Rwanda, because in the last 30 years, only one team has won the championship and all the others are APR and Rayon Sports.

The confrontation between the two teams is not only about the skills on the field because the fans are not aware of it, they are often worse than the players, Rayon Sports called APR FC 'Igikona' and APR FC called Rayon Sports 'Gasenyi'.

It is difficult for any team to trade a player for another

It is difficult for a player to be bought from one team to another through mutual agreement. It often requires FERWAFA to mediate between the two sides or require one team to first release a player and then the other to retain him.

Niyigena Clement, Mugisha Gilbert and Tuyisenge Arsene were in APR FC through Rayon Sports and Omborega Fitina, Nsabimana Aimable and Ishimwe Finstor were in Rayon Sports from APR FC.

Apart from the players mentioned above who still play for these two teams, we cannot ignore names like Rugwiro Hervé, Sekamana Maxime, Sugira Ernest and Nshimiyimana Amran.

Manishimwe Emmanuel 'Mangwende', Manzi Thierry, Mutsinzi Ange, Niyonzima Olivier Sefu, Bukuru Christophe, Manishimwe Djabel and Bizimana Yannick

Jimmy Gatete, Bokota Labama, Haruna Niyonzima, Janot Witakenge, Masoudi Djuma, Hategekimana Bonaventure alias Gangi. Nizigiyimana Kalim Makenzi, Fuadi Ndayisenga, Muganza Isaac, Ndayishimiye Eric 'Bakame'.

Mukunzi Yannick, Rwatubyaye Abdoul, Nova Bayama, Usengimana Faustin, Ngabo Albert, Nsengiyumva Moustapha, Nshuti Savio Dominique, Kimenyi Yves, Nizeyimana Mirafa, Rutanga Eric and many others have played for both teams.

A memorable match between Rayon Sports and APR FC

The first memorable match was played on November 3, 1996 in Nyamirambo, in the final match of the cup organized by the former University of Rwanda (UNR), in order to raise funds for the restoration of the flood-damaged University, Rayon Sports defeated APR FC 5-2.

He did it again on October 26, 1997 in Remera at Amahoro Stadium in the match to hand over the Championship trophy he had already won that year, where Rayon Sports again beat APR FC 5-2.

In 2011-2012, in the Peace Cup, APR FC beat Rayon Sports 3-1 in ½. APR FC were defeated by Lionel Saint Preux, Kabange Twite and Papy Faty. The Rayon Sports trophy was won by Hamiss Cédric.

In 2012-2013, APR FC started the year by winning the RPF 25th Anniversary Cup, beating Rayon Sports 3-1 in the final. All the goals were scored in the second half by Ruhinda Farouk (Sssentongo), who scored two goals and the other goal was scored by Cyubahiro Jacques. Hategemana Aphrodis 'Kanombe' won the Rayon Sports trophy.

In the league play-off, which took place on March 9, 2013, Rayon Sports defeated APR FC 4-0 with Hategekimana Aphrodis 'Kanombe', Hamisi Cédric and Kambale Salita Gentil 'Papy Kamanzi' scoring twice.

In 2015 APR FC beat Rayon Sports 4-0 and in 2016 Rayon Sports beat APR FC 4-0. In 2017, the two teams met in a Super Cup match played on two separate days.

The first 63 minutes of the match took place in Rubavu, Rayon Sports team 2-0 the lights at Umuganda Stadium immediately turned on. Another 27 minutes played in Nyamirambo five days later, on the 27th of Nzeli, ended without another goal in the game, Gikundiro won the cup.

Statistics to know before Rayon Sports host APR FC in match 104

Since its inception, APR FC has won 22 league titles and Rayon Sports, which was founded in Nyanza 58 years ago, has won nine league titles. APR FC have won the Peace Cup 13 times while Rayon Sports are looking for the 10th time.

2017 is the only time these teams have met each other more than once, as they have met five times in different competitions, something that has never happened in the history of these two teams that are often referred to as state ties (they cannot play a friendly match that they have prepared for themselves).

In total since 1995, if you take league matches and add other competitions where these teams have met in friendly matches although it has not happened many times, Rayon Sports and APR FC have met 104 times.

In all these times, APR FC has won the most number of times where they have won 44 times, Rayon Sports has won 33 times and they have lost 27 times.

In those 104 games, 263 goals were scored, including 126 for Rayon Sports and 137 for APR FC.

Some of the coaches fired for this game:

After Rayon Sports beat APR FC 1-0 in a match between the two teams in April 2019, fans of both sides clashed and this riot led to their teams being punished by FERWAFA.

A 2-0 loss to APR FC in December 2019 saw the sacking of Mexican Javier Martinez Espinoza as Rayon Sports coach just three days after the match while Congolese Guy Bukasa resigned after a 1-0 loss to APR FC in June 2021.

Burundian Masudi Djuma was sacked by Rayon Sports in December 2021 after losing matches against Kiyovu Sports and APR FC while Portugal's Jorge Paixão did not have his contract extended after being dismissed by APR FC in the 2022 Peace Cup.

Unforgettable names in this game

Jimmy Gatete, who managed to play for these two teams, is the one who has the goal of scoring the most goals in the match between these teams, since each team scored four goals in different games.

Sina Jérôme is one of the players who have managed to score the most goals for one team in this game, as he has six, while Masudi Djuma and Issa Bigirimana have managed to score the most goals for APR FC, reaching five.

Since the two teams met, Davis Kasirye from Uganda managed to score three goals in one game while players including Sina Jérôme, Bokota Labama, Lionnel St Pleux, Ruhinda Farouk, Bokungu Ndjoli, Kambale Salita Gentil, Hakizimana Muhadjiri and others have scored two goals in one game.

Raoul Shungu from the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the coach who has won the most matches against this club because in the different years he coached Rayon Sports won seven matches and lost four, drawing five of the 16 matches he coached against APR FC.

Both teams will meet in this game needing to win, because you have a lot to say about the team that will win the championship.