AREAS HIGH LGHTED BY FUFA PRESIDENT ENG MOSES MAGOGO DURING THE FUFA PRESS CONFERENCE TODAY IN MENGO
AT THE COMPLETION OF THE 2015 AFCON QUALIFIERS:
Dear fellow countrymen,
Although Uganda will take another painful wait to compete at the finals of the Africa Cup of Nations, I take the opportunity to thank the following;
• HE the President of the Republic of Uganda Yoweri Kaguta Museveni
• Various officials and organs of the Government of Uganda
• Our Sponsors; Airtel, Nile Breweries and NIC
• The FUFA Excom, Staff and Officials
• The Head Coach, Technical and Support Personnel of the Uganda Cranes
• The players for gallant performances that was exhibited
• The fans for the unending support and belief
• The Media for their role as the 4th estate
• Any other persons and organization not mentioned that helped with the completion of the campaign.
It was a great contribution to our great nation by all the above.
In my manifesto and through various communications, FUFA has been categorical that performance should not be judged by qualification to AFCON but creating a foundation for the future qualification and eventual winning of the AFCON itself.
At the end of the 19th unsuccessful qualification campaign, the Country needs to take a deep sigh and understand why the campaigns have not been successful.
We have changed Country and FUFA Presidents, Ministers, Coaches, Players, Media Personnel and fans but there has been one constant, failure to qualify.
In our immediate evaluation, it has nothing to do with the current human resource.
There are 8 parameters that are required for qualification.
Each of these affects qualification.
There is however a general system breakdown for each of these 7 parameters that requires respective long term fixing not just a mere change of guards.
1) Administration:
FUFA’s main role is to mobilize resources, co-ordinate the activities and ensuring welfare of the players.
Whereas this was a major challenge in the past, but since 2005 this is one area that has been greatly improved.
In just this completed campaign, FUFA provided the following friendly matches; Rwanda, Zambia, Seychelles, Egypt, Malawi, Niger and Ethiopia.
Hamis ‘Diego’ Kizza in Uganda Cranes’ friendly game against Seychelles at Lugogo.
800m UGX was paid to players in Allowances and Bonuses where a player who lasted the entire campaign earned over 10,800 USD in 6 months.
There is still a lot to be done though.
2) Coaches:
The head coach, his technical personnel and the quality and quantity of the entire coaching human resource in the country is paramount for qualification.
Until recently Uganda had only 28 CAF C (4th level of CAF) coaches.
Many of these coaches obtained the certificate as an equivalent. Players are delivered to the national team lacking basics.
Without Teachers what makes us think we pass the final examinations.
This will require a bit of time to fix.
3) Resources:
The resources invested by countries that qualify to AFCON could be 10 times what Uganda is investing.
Without scheduled and sizable resources from the government, Sponsors and Gate Takings.
For example the coach who won AFCON for Zambia was being paid more than 10 times of our budget for the coach here.
Uganda Cranes players came from Nalya to beat Ghana who slept in Serena.
This requires a bit of time to fix.
4) Facilities:
The development of a player requires good training and competition facilities.
As we speak all grounds are being replacement with concrete in the name of development.
Yunus Sentamu and previously David Obua got injured while training with the national team in the Namboole outside pitch.
If you look at what the clubs are using for training it is deplorable.
This requires time to fix.
5) Media:
Whereas positive criticism is important for development, the way the media in Uganda supports the qualification is still wanting.
Where in the world does the media criticize and tear apart a campaign of the national team before the task is completed?
How can the media put graphical detail of the injury of a player like the case was with Yunus Sentamu before the Ghana game?
How does a campaign benefit from front line pages of arresting the FUFA president on match day?
With the liberalization of the media platform and advent of technology, there is a lot to be done here
6) Fans:
Our society is so gullible. Our fans are used by football war generals to achieve their own selfish objectives.
With due respect to the ever supporting loyal Uganda Cranes fans, many Ugandans prefer free entrances to games, prefer to buy counterfeit jerseys, and do not watch the league.
Many Ugandans support the recent result.
I would like to thank the fans for the support they gave the Uganda Cranes when they played against Ghana at Namboole.
In my life, I have never seen fans support the Uganda Cranes with passion like they did against Ghana.
A campaign is a marathon and when the team needs fans most is when they disappear.
Of the many Uganda Cranes fans, where do they go at Friendly, League and Underage matches?
All these matches need fans to generate resources before we think of the cranes. This needs a bit of time to fix.
7) Clubs:
Without proper clubs structure, there is no way players development will be undertaken.
Players are developed at Clubs.
The reason Uganda has lost a lot of talent is a weak if not non-existent clubs structure.
It is not by coincidence that great talent in the names of Bengo, Saddam Juma, Serunkuma, Ntambi etc exit at the same point in their development career.
Even if everything else is fixed but with this talent leakage, we shall still not get the end product.
With good Clubs we shall definitely have a strong league and better harnessing ground for national team players.
This requires a bit of time.
8) The last man on the relay team determines the success of the team.
When everything has been done, it is eventually the player and not even the coach who bangs the goals to qualify.
Whereas Uganda is endowed with absolute raw talent, we do not convert potential and talent to final product.
Look comparatively at the level of players we compete with.
While Emmanuel Adebayo scores goals for Totenham Hotspur, he is taken care of by Savio Kabugo from SCVU.
In boxing, this is not acceptable for a Super Heavy to take on a Bantam Weight.
We need to raise the professional quality of our players and this needs time to fix.
Considering how much we are lacking in the 8 key parameters required for qualifying and the amount of time to fix, FUFA has decided to think long term by creating ‘PROJECT CAMEROON 2019′.
Aware that World Cup 2018 qualifiers, AFCON 2017 Qualifiers, CECAFAs, U20 All Africa Games, 2016 Olympic Qualifiers and CHAN are in between, FUFA will only use those competitions for adding more miles into the legs of the players.
We call upon all stakeholders to be patient with this project else another disappointment for 2017 AFCON qualifier is eminent.
In order to achieve the Ugandan Dream of playing at AFCON, FUFA has scheduled a two-day stakeholders’ workshop on Friday and Saturday 24th and 25th January 2015.
The Workshop is expected to deeply analyse why since 1978 Uganda has not been able to qualify and attempt to obtain the Country Agenda for the PROJECT CAMEROON 2019.
Presentations will be from various stakeholders inclusive of Government and football persons from countries that always qualify.
FUFA has highlighted Ghana, Zambia, Cape Verde and Costa Rica. Mr. Justus Mugisha the first FUFA VP will head the workshop organizing committee
Alleged Match fixing
FUFA has received reports of fans attacking different players for allegedly fixing the match result against Guinea. Our gullible and patriotic innocent fans have been motivated by selfish individuals who survive on chaos in football. FUFA strongly condemns acts of violence especially against our players who have on many occasions given this nation happiness. It is an act that intimidates future players of the National Team.
However, considering that match fixing is one of the cardinal offenses in football, FUFA has decided to engage the Uganda Police to utilize its expertise, facilities and the law to investigate the entire campaign into such allegations so that those innocent are cleared but in event of finding any person in acts that caused such pain to the nation, the law and the football regulations will take course
Positives
Football has drawn the Government closer
Young players have been unearthed; Majwega, Luwagga, Kabugo and Miya
As a President it has been a learning experience that we shall benefit in the future
The future
The FUFA Technical Committee will soon sit and analyse the performance of the entire technical personnel of the Uganda Cranes and will advise the FUFA Executive if certain persons will lose their jobs
The Agenda for FUFA is reconciliation and bringing everyone to contribute to the game of football.
I therefore call upon all Ugandans to strongly condemn all those persons who breed war, hate campaigns and character assassinations.
Those who claim to support FUFA should desist from the style of attacking people and funning hatred for any person including those who are on a massive campaign to frustrate harmony and unity
