{"id":116967,"date":"2025-12-08T15:51:47","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T15:51:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/zouabi-warns-players-to-elevate-their-game"},"modified":"2025-12-08T16:28:22","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T16:28:22","slug":"zouabi-warns-players-to-elevate-their-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/zouabi-warns-players-to-elevate-their-game","title":{"rendered":"Zouabi Warns Players to Elevate Their Game"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>Rwanda\u2019s handball national team head coach, Hafedh Zouabi, has warned his players that they risk losing their places on the squad for the 2026 Africa Nations Handball Championship if they fail to justify their selection.<\/p>\n<p>Rwanda dominated the all-star team of players from the national handball league with a 30\u201325 victory in a friendly match held at Petit Stade on Sunday, December 7.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the win, Zouabi said he remains unconvinced by the team\u2019s overall performance as he races against time to prepare the squad for the continental tournament, which will take place in Kigali from January 21-31.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday, there are some players I&#8217;m not happy with. I can\u2019t mention their names, but I will talk to them. I want them to be accountable and know that they have to show what they bring to the national team,\u201d Zouabi told the press in a post-match interview.<\/p>\n<p>The Tunisian coach is yet to announce his final roster and admitted that Sunday\u2019s friendly match made him reconsider some of his earlier choices.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re telling players to fight to win, not just to play. We are going to represent the country at the continental level. This is the national team, which is the squad for the best,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Rwanda began preparations for the Africa Nations Handball Championship on October 25 with 28 shortlisted players. Zouabi later trimmed the squad to 20 as the team entered the second phase of training camp.<\/p>\n<p>Sunday\u2019s friendly match marked the end of that phase, after which players returned to their respective clubs to prepare for the national handball league, which resumes on Friday, December 12.<\/p>\n<p>Zouabi will observe from the stands when domestic rivals APR HC and Police HC face off at Petit Stade. The two clubs contribute more than a third of the current national squad, and the coach hopes the match will give him a clearer picture of how prepared his players are for the upcoming tournament.<\/p>\n<p>The third and final training camp will start on December 15.<\/p>\n<p>Rwanda is in Group A alongside Zambia, Nigeria, and Algeria.<\/p>\n<p>Who is Hafedh Zouabi?<\/p>\n<p>Zouabi holds a degree in physical education as well as a third-level handball coaching certificate. Since 1990, he has devoted himself to coaching, leading several teams in Tunisia and abroad, including top clubs in both Jordan and Tunisia.<\/p>\n<p>He also played a key role in preparing Tunisia\u2019s national team for the World Tournament in Gdan\u0301sk, Poland\u2014an important stage in the qualification process for the 2016 Summer Olympics.<\/p>\n<p>Before embarking on his coaching career, Zouabi was an accomplished player. He began with JS Kairouan, reaching the final of the Tunisia Cup for cadets in 1977. He later joined the senior team in 1980, quickly establishing himself as a prolific goalscorer. Among his standout performances was an 11-goal display in the semi-final that propelled his team to the championship final.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Rwanda<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Rwanda. Rwanda\u2019s handball national team head coach, Hafedh Zouabi, has warned his players that they risk losing their places on the squad for the 2026 Africa Nations Handball Championship if they fail to justify their selection. Rwanda dominated the all-star team of players from the national handball league with a 30\u201325 victory in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":116966,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,18],"tags":[4699,8586,758],"class_list":["post-116967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-african-mens-handball-championship","tag-hafedh-zouabi","tag-rwanda"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Zouabi Warns Players to Elevate Their Game - Rwanda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rwanda\u2019s handball national team head coach, Hafedh Zouabi, has warned his players that they risk losing their places on ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/zouabi-warns-players-to-elevate-their-game\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Zouabi Warns Players to Elevate Their Game\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rwanda\u2019s handball national team head coach, Hafedh Zouabi, has warned his players that they risk losing their places on ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/zouabi-warns-players-to-elevate-their-game\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-08T15:51:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-08T16:28:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2025\/12\/sm_1765198379.86107.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"586\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/zouabi-warns-players-to-elevate-their-game#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/zouabi-warns-players-to-elevate-their-game\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Zouabi Warns Players to Elevate Their Game\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-08T15:51:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-08T16:28:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/zouabi-warns-players-to-elevate-their-game\"},\"wordCount\":493,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/zouabi-warns-players-to-elevate-their-game#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2025\/12\/sm_1765198379.86107.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"African Mens Handball Championship\",\"Hafedh Zouabi\",\"Rwanda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/zouabi-warns-players-to-elevate-their-game#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/zouabi-warns-players-to-elevate-their-game\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/zouabi-warns-players-to-elevate-their-game\",\"name\":\"Zouabi Warns Players to Elevate Their Game - 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