‘Ungrateful’ Chiefs criticised over Ntwari treatment – ‘He turned down three offers to stay’

Rwanda coach Adel Amourche has jumped to the defence of goalkeeper Fiacre Ntwari following the criticism he has received for refusing to be substituted for Kaizer Chiefs.

Ntwari refused to come off for Bruce Bvuma in the final second of Chiefs’ Carling Knockout Round of 16 match against Stellenbosch FC on Sunday as the technical team sought to have an edge in the penalty shootouts.

That was interpreted as a lack of respect to his coaches and has seen some observers call for the player to be kicked out of the club while assistant coach Cedric Kaze said the matter would be dealt with internally.

However, Amrouche feels Ntwari did nothing wrong as he was just confident of helping Chiefs in the penalty shootouts and the least he should have received was love given how he has been loyal.

Ntwari showed great loyalty to Chiefs

“It is a long time since he played [for Chiefs]. He proved in the national team, he played against Algeria, Nigeria, he was good and to keep a goalkeeper at the highest level mentally is not easy,” Amrouche said in an exclusive interview with Afrik-Foot.

“It is not easy when your goalkeeper is on the bench for six months after playing against Nigeria, Zimbabwe. Thank God I have good relations with the coach of Kaizer Chiefs and we worked together to keep that boy in a good spirit.

“It was four months since he last played in front of his supporters but he likes the club. I brought him three clubs but he said; ‘coach, I like to play here at Kaizer Chiefs.’ I said, that is okay, it is a big club in Africa.”

Who else was interested in Rwandan keeper?

In the cup match, Ntwari was playing his first game for Chiefs since November 2024 and the Rwanda coach hopes to see his goalkeeper rewarded with more starts as he turned down big-money offers to stay at the club.

“Kaizer Chiefs have three goalkeepers and it is good to compete because one can get an injury and or get suspended but if you leave your goalkeeper not in good shape, you can kill everything built in years,” he added.

“Right now, he is working well with the goalkeeper trainer and I asked him why he did not leave [Chiefs]. There were clubs in Europe in for him in Ligue 2 in France and he said; ‘coach I am happy here and I want to prove’ and that is good for him and Chiefs. I like players who fight.”