This archive report was first published on 10 June 2020.
Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza, a sports enthusiast, died on June 9, 2018, after a heart failure.
On the day of his death, Nkurunziza had helped out at a volleyball match in Ngozi, northern Burundi, the evening before.
Outside politics, Nkurunziza was well known for his love of football and was often seen organizing matches with his team, Halleluja FC.
One interesting incident that he will always be remembered for by football fans is a match in 2018, where his team faced a team from the northern town of Kiremba made up of Congolese refugees.
Normally, the opposition is well aware they are playing against the Burundi's president, and it had been said they go easy in the games, even perhaps allowing Nkurunziza to score.
However, the Congolese refugees did not know they were playing against Burundi's president and "attacked each time he had the ball and made him fall several times".
According to AFP news report, Kiremba's administrator Cyriaque Nkezabahizi and his assistant, Michel Mutama, were arrested for "conspiring against the president."
