{"id":120107,"date":"2026-02-19T13:11:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T13:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/teen-star-niyo-sets-sights-on-pro-career-after-ukraine-move"},"modified":"2026-02-19T13:18:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T13:18:32","slug":"teen-star-niyo-sets-sights-on-pro-career-after-ukraine-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/teen-star-niyo-sets-sights-on-pro-career-after-ukraine-move","title":{"rendered":"Teen star Niyo sets sights on pro career after Ukraine move"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>Rwandan attacking midfielder David Niyo says he is determined to achieve major milestones as he embarks on a new chapter with Ukrainian Premier League side NK Veres Rivne.<\/p>\n<p>The former Kiyovu forward signed a five-year contract with the European club after successfully completing professional trials, becoming only the second Rwandan to join a Ukrainian club after Djihad Bizimana.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am happy to sign the contract, and I am looking forward to working hard so that I can improve my level of performance,\u201d Niyo told Times Sport. \u201cIt\u2019s not easy, but I am willing to learn every day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He described the move as a significant step in his career.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a big step for my football career. I have what it takes to build my career and become a big player. I am happy to join a big team, but I must stay disciplined to reach another level,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Niyo, 18, was born and raised in Byangabo, Musanze District. He developed through the APR FC Academy (Intare) before being loaned to Kiyovu in 2025 to gain first-team experience. Under the terms of the transfer, his parent club APR FC will receive a cash bonus and 20 percent of any future resale.<\/p>\n<p>He is expected to return to Ukraine in the coming days and join the squad for the second half of the Ukrainian top-flight season.<\/p>\n<p>During the first half of the Rwanda Premier League campaign, Niyo contributed three goals and four assists for Kiyovu Sports, who currently sit fifth in the standings.<\/p>\n<p>Founded in 1957, NK Veres Rivne compete in the Ukrainian Premier League and are nicknamed the Red-and-Blacks. The club currently occupy 11th place in the 2025\/26 standings with 18 points from 15 matches.<\/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. Rwandan attacking midfielder David Niyo says he is determined to achieve major milestones as he embarks on a new chapter with Ukrainian Premier League side NK Veres Rivne. The former Kiyovu forward signed a five-year contract with the European club after successfully completing professional trials, becoming only the second Rwandan to join [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":120105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,18],"tags":[9431,9430,758],"class_list":["post-120107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-david-niyo","tag-nk-veres-rivne","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>Teen star Niyo sets sights on pro career after Ukraine move - Rwanda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rwandan attacking midfielder David Niyo says he is determined to achieve major milestones as he embarks on a new chapter ...\" \/>\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\/teen-star-niyo-sets-sights-on-pro-career-after-ukraine-move\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Teen star Niyo sets sights on pro career after Ukraine move\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rwandan attacking midfielder David Niyo says he is determined to achieve major milestones as he embarks on a new chapter ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/teen-star-niyo-sets-sights-on-pro-career-after-ukraine-move\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-19T13:11:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-19T13:18:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/02\/sm_1771494485.378112.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"645\" \/>\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=\"2 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\/teen-star-niyo-sets-sights-on-pro-career-after-ukraine-move#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/teen-star-niyo-sets-sights-on-pro-career-after-ukraine-move\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Teen star Niyo sets sights on pro career after Ukraine move\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-19T13:11:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-19T13:18:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/teen-star-niyo-sets-sights-on-pro-career-after-ukraine-move\"},\"wordCount\":303,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/teen-star-niyo-sets-sights-on-pro-career-after-ukraine-move#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/02\/sm_1771494485.378112.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"David Niyo\",\"NK Veres Rivne\",\"Rwanda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/teen-star-niyo-sets-sights-on-pro-career-after-ukraine-move#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/teen-star-niyo-sets-sights-on-pro-career-after-ukraine-move\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/teen-star-niyo-sets-sights-on-pro-career-after-ukraine-move\",\"name\":\"Teen star Niyo sets sights on pro career after Ukraine move - 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