Author: Ahmed Marsha

FSL: Who will be relegated? Is it Simba, Bright Stars, Entebbe, Proline, Masaka L.C or CRO?

The FUFA Super league returns on Tuesday, 29^th April 2014 with a series of match day 28 fixtures.

6 matches will be played across the various stadia. The title race has inevitably gone to the wire with less than 4 fixtures to be played.

Defending champions and current table leaders, KCCA football club (on 52 points) from 26 games entertains 3^rd placed Uganda Revenue Authority (on 47 points) in a top of the table clash.

Second placed Sports Club Victoria University (SCVU), held goal-less last week by army side, Simba football club travels to Kavumba recreational stadium to play Police football club, currently lying 9^th on the log (with 35 points).

SCVU is likely to name a strong team with defender Savio Kabugo, Dennis Iguma and Mathew Odong returning from injury.

Perennial mid-table team Police f.c coached by Angelo Lonyesi is confident of another home victory following that 3- 2 result against Entebbe in the last game.

Equally so, the relegation race gets stiffer each passing day as the season comes to a close.

With bottom placed CRO virtually having sealed a berth in next season’s FUFA Big league, two more teams are severely fighting to keep in the top flight league.

Masaka L.C (20), Proline (21), Entebbe f.c (23), Bright Stars f.c (27) and Simba f.c (27) are the teams still engaged in the mathematics against relegation with 3 games to play.

Masaka Local Council welcoming back team skipper, Ronald Lukungu faces an acid test with a date against an on form Express football club at Wankulukuku stadium,  that has won 5 successive games.

Livingstone Mbabazi coached Bright Stars, 0 – 1 losers to Express in the last game hosts Entebbe f.c, another side that lost their last game – 2 – 3 against Police at Kavumba last Friday.

16 time record league record champions, SC Villa coached by Steven Bogere travels to the Mbale Municipal stadium to face a dejected CRO, who lost 0 – 4 to URA last Friday on the same venue.

SC Villa will bank on the form of striker Victor Emanayo, Karim Ndugwa and team skipper Ronald Muganga.

With the going getting tough both at the top and at the opposite end of the table, expect drama, tears and smiles.

Enjoy the games.

MATCH DAY 28 FIXTURES:

TUESDAY 29TH APRIL, 2014                       

Express Vs Masaka – Wankulukuku Stadium

Bright Stars Vs Entebbe – Nakivubo Stadium

KCC Vs URA – KCCA Stadium

Kira Young Vs Simba –Nambole Stadium

Police Vs SCVU – Kavumba Stadium

CRO Vs S.C Villa – Mbale Stadium

Photo: SCVU (red) and Simba (white and green) in action last Friday. Both Simba and SCVU will be in action playing different opponents. Their last game ended goal-less at Namboole Stadium.

Photo Credit: SCVU Communications Department

ROAD TO MOROCCO AFCON 2015: Micho names Cranes team on Wednesday

2015 AFCON 2015 QUALIFIERS

May 16th – 18th 2014: Madagascar Vs Uganda – 1st Leg

Return leg: 30th May – 1st June 2014

Uganda Cranes head coach, Milutin ‘Micho’ Sedrojevich will this Wednesday during the FUFA weekly press conference at 10 am in Mengo name the squad to use during the qualification campaign.

Uganda was drawn to play Madagascar in the opening of the 2015 African Nations Cup finals that will be held in Morocco.

FUFA organized a mini football gala at the KCCA stadium in Lugogo with the sponsors (Airtel Uganda, NIC and Nile Breweries Limited) and Ex-Internationals on Sunday. The Ex-Internationals won the gala after beating FUFA 2-0 in the final.

The draw was followed live at Lugogo. ‘We shall give the details about the team, training schedules and full preparations during the Wednesday press conference’ Micho said.

Uganda is drawn to open up the 2015 qualification campaign with a date against Madagascar in a second round fixture between 16th – 18th May.

The first leg will be held in Madagascar with the return leg coming up two weeks later (between 30th May- 1st June 2014) at Mandela National stadium, Namboole.

The winner will thus face the victor of the Equatorial Guinea/Mauritania fixture in the third round.

Should Uganda overcome the two qualification hurdles, the nation will move to the last qualification phase in group E that has Ghana, Togo and Guinea.

Photo: Uganda Cranes coach Micho. The  Serbian will name his squad on Wednesday

Uganda’s qualification campaign to the 2015 Nations cup in Morocco dubbed ‘The road to Morocco” officially kicked off on Sunday with a football gala organized by FUFA at the KCCA Stadium in Lugogo.

Four teams, FUFA, Sponsors and two ex-international select sides participated in the day long gala that was organized to usher in the draws to the AFCON 2015 Campaign.

A special tent was arranged from where the draw was followed live via U-tube as it was conducted in Cairo, CAF’s headquarters.

Ex-Internationals (Team B) won the gala to scoop the trophy after overcoming FUFA XI in the final courtesy of Nana Ntabazi’s strikes.

Earlier, FUFA had ejected the Sponsor’s team (that combined Airtel, NIC and Nile Breweries Limited) 1 – 0 in the semi finals.

FUFA Marketing committee member, Johnson Musinguzi scored FUFA’s lone strike in the 13th minute.

Speaking after the gala and the draws, FUFA president, Engineer Moses Magogo appreciated the sponsors and all stake holders to see the game progress and Uganda’s campaign successful.

“Thank you everybody for your effort of helping the Cranes’ Afcon 2015 campaign. About the draws, it is fair and we shall strive to ensure qualification”, he said.

Uganda was drawn to play Madagascar in a second round fixture between 16th – 18th  May. The first leg will be held in Madagascar with the return leg coming up two weeks later (between 30th May- 1st June 2014) at Mandela National stadium, Namboole.

The winner will thus face the victor of the Equatorial Guinea/Mauritania fixture in the third round.

Should Uganda over come the two qualification hurdles, the nation will move to the last qualification phase in group E that has Ghana, Togo and Guinea.

The sponsors once again recommitted their desire and urge to the Uganda’s qualification path right from the initial preparations to the matches.

Uganda Cranes head coach, Milutin ‘Micho’ Sedrojevic hailed the good effort of all stake holders involved to see Uganda qualify.

“Every Ugandan is targeting the finals in Morocco and we shall work diligently to ensure qualification. The draws are fair but we have to work hard and prepare adequately”, Micho spoke at Lugogo.

The sponsors were also in attendance at Lugogo.

Alex Wekoye- Airtel’s head of branding and communication said ‘it is a good draw. We have big plans for this campaign. We are going to help in the Cranes in this qualification by flying fans to Madagascar to cheer the team’

NIC Corporate  Communications Manager Pamela Abonyo said ‘No team is week at this stage. Our players should not take things for granted’

Airtel are the main sponsors of the Uganda Cranes while NIC and Nile Special are official partners of the national team.

Afcon 2015 qualifiers:

May 16th – 18th 2014:

Madagascar Vs Uganda – 1st Leg

Return leg: 30th May – 1st June 2014

Uganda Cranes has been drawn to play Madagascar in the opening qualifier of the 2015 African Nations Cup finals that will be held in Morocco.

The draw was held at the CAF Headquarters in Cairo, Egypt. The first leg will be held between  any of the dates 16th -18th 2014.

FUFA organized a special gala at Lugogo Stadium in the build up to the draws. Various people including FUFA Executive members, local coaches, ex-internationals, fans and well wishers closely followed the draws.

“It will be a competitive game. It will not be the Madagascar that plays in the COSAFA cup. I expect them to strengthen their team with players from the French league” said Micho, Uganda Cranes head coach, who showed up at Lugogo shortly after the draw.

Incase Uganda passes the Madagascar test, they are set to face the winner between Mauritania and Equatorial Guinea.

The winner of that progresses to the group stage, where they will play against Ghana, Togo and Guinea in group E.

How draw was conducted:

Under the draw procedure, 28 teams were divided into 4 groups, each pot containing 7 teams based on the CAF classification.

Pot 1: Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Zambia, Burkina Faso, Mali, Tunisia

Pot 2: Algeria, Angola, Cap Verde, Togo, Egypt, South Africa, Cameroun

Pot 3: RD Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Niger, Guinea, Senegal, Sudan

Pot 4: The Seven yet to be decided by the preliminary round matches

Summary to decide Pot 4:

A total of 28 teams were divided into two pots each containing 14 teams based on CAF classification.

The 14 teams of the Level 1 namely Libya, Equatorial Guinea, Botswana, Malawi, Uganda, Mozambique, Benin, Sierra Leone, Congo, Central Africa Republic, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Liberia and Gambia will be in Pot A.

The 14 teams of Level 2 namely Rwanda, Tanzania, Namibia, Burundi, Lesotho, Guinea Bissau, Madagascar, Chad, Sao Tome, Seychelles, Comoros, Swaziland, South Sudan and Mauritania were in Pot B.

Pot C was empty.

Step 1: A draw made to pick one team from Pot A

Step 2: A draw made to pick one team from Pot B, the team drawn from Pot A were to play against the team drawn from Pot B

Step 3: The two picked balls from step 1 and 2 were be placed together in Pot C and the first one picked were to play the 1st match at home.

This operation will be repeated 14 times to determine the 28 matches.

The 14 winners will play against each other to determine the final seven who will go into the final draw (the forth pot of 7 teams).

Additional reporting by www.cafonline.

FUFA XI 1 – 0 Sponors

Johnson Musinguzi’s 13^th minute strike helped FUFA select team overcome a hard fighting sponsors’ select side in the opening match of the football gala organized by the Federation at Lugogo on Saturday.

The gala has been organized by FUFA as a build up to the CAF afcon 2015 draws to be held in Cairo on Sunday. The FUFA president Moses Magogo was introduced at the start of the second stanza of the game and he showed some flashes of brilliance with eye catching passes.

The Ex –internationals and USPA were the other sides invited for the gala.

Team line ups:

FUFA XI :

Herbert Nsubuga, Decolad Kiiza, Phillip Obwin, Abdullah Mubiru, Edgar Watson (Captain), Bruno Kiyimba, Majigah Nantanda, Samuel Mpiime, Isaac Agaba, Johnson Musinguzi, Kefa Kisala.

Subs:

Ronnie Mutebi, Isma Kalanda, Moses Kibumba, Ayam Senkayi, Deo Mutabazi, EdwardKulubya, Ivan Kintu, Yusfu Awuye, Richard Ssemanda, Moses Magogo, Jackosn Nyiima, Hadijah Namuyanja.

Coaches: Ajumani Lubowa.

Sponsors’ XI:

Farouk Kasule, Robert Kibuuka, Ronald Lubega, Eddie Muwonge, Rajab Amanyi, Julius Agaba,  Richard Mugisa, Jacob Kawomba, Shafik Kaozi, Nathan Masajjage

Subs:

Eric Ngageno, Patrick Mulokwa, George Mukadde, Mahadi Ssali, Martin Mugoya, AlexWekor, Harunah Muwonge.

How football achieved on the night

Daniel Sserunkuma-Footballer of the year 2013

Mzee Kezekia Segwanga Musisi-Legendary Award

Uganda Cranes (CHAN) -Was one of the nominees for Team Of The nominees

It was a memorable night for football during the Nile Special/USPA Awards dinner held at Imperial Royale Hotel yesterday.

During the awards ceremony presided over the Speaker of Uganda Parliament Rt Hon Rebecca Kadaga, football saw Gor Mahia and Uganda Cranes striker Daniel Serunkuma voted best player of 2013. He was not present to pick his award but the FUFA CEO Edgar Watson received it on his behalf.

The night also witnessed a great moment for celebrated football administrator Mzee Kezekia Segwanga Musisi being given the prestigious USPA Legendary award.

In his educative and moving speech the aging  Musisi said ‘I’m tired but not expired’ as he sent the guest into long laughter. Musisi said that sports needs to get to another level an requested government to fund the industry.

Jimmy Kirunda-former Uganda Cranes captain for ten years, staff at FUFA Secretariat  and a USPA legendary award winner also played a key role as he was called upon to handover trophies to winners in various categories.

Football’s big night was completed when the Uganda Cranes (CHAN) was nominated in the Team of the Year awards category that was won by City Oilers Basketball team.

Star runner Stephen Kiprotich who won gold in the world championship marathon in Moscow was named the sports personality of the year 2013.

Main pix: FUFA CEO Edgar Watson receives Daniel Sserunkuma’s award while Marketing Director at Nile Breweries Daniel Ogong hands over the award to Mzee Kezekia Musisi Ssegwanga (Middle photo)

The draw for the Final Round of Qualifiers of the Orange Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2015 takes place at the CAF Headquarters in Cairo today ( Sunday 27th April), from 12:30hours GMT (3.30 pm East African Time).
The Uganda Cranes fans will eagerly await the draw to find out their opponents.

The link below will lead you to the details on how the qualification process works and draw will be conducted.

http://www.cafonline.com/competition/african-nations-championship_2014/news/20046-orange-africa-cup-of-nations-morocco-2015-draw-procedure.html

Meanwhile the FUFA mini football gala organized to kick start the 2015 AFCON campaign gets underway this morning (9 O’clock) at the KCCA stadium in Lugogo. Uganda Cranes main sponsors Airtel, partners NIC and Nile special plus the sports media will take part.  The FUFA XI will also play and the FA Pesident Engineer Moses Magogo is the captain.  Uganda Cranes coach Milutin Micho Sredojevich and his entire technical team, coaches of various National teams will play for FUFA XI which will also have players from the five bodies (Assembly, standing Committees, Judicial Bodies, Secretariat and Executive) that make the Association.

Progamme:

8.30am: Teams’ arrival

9am: Draw is conducted

9.15 am-10.15am: 1^st semifinal

10.20 am-11.20 am: 2^nd Semifinal

11.30am-12.30pm: Losers’ match

12.40pm-1.30pm: Final

1.30pm: Lunch, speeches as we wait for the 2015 AFCON draw

North East Regional final

Kumi United FC 0-0 Bukedea Arrows

Kumi wins 5-4 on penalties, joins UFA Big League

Kumi United FC needed a nail biting penalty shootout to see off rival Bukedea Arrows to join the FUFA Big League in an entertaining North East Region Football Association League final played at Soroti stadium.

Normal time ended 0-0 before the teams were taken to penalties to decide the winner. Kumi United FC won 5-4 to emerge 2013/2014 North East Regional Champions.

The final was graced by the former minister of Lands and Housing Hon Hebrone Omax Omeda who was the Guest of honor. Soroti districts Officials also attended the final. The match was handled by Olugu, Omonding and Bongere.

The Chairperson NERFA Stephen Onyait, his Secretary Competitions Sylus Oluka and the CEO Simon Okello (seen below at the Association’s office) thanked all the participating teams for showing high levels of discipline during the league. 

Friday results: FUFA Super League

SC Villa 2 – 2 Vipers

Proline 0 – 4 KCC

SCVU 0 – 0 Simba

Express 1 -0 Bright Stars

Police 3 – 2 Entebbe

CRO 0 – 4 URA

Champions and Table leaders KCC FC registered a resounding 4-0 win against relegation strugglers Proline FC in the FUFA Super League match played at KCCA stadium in Lugogo this evening. Matching from a 3-2 defeat to Express on Tuesday on the same pitch, KCC FC were playing Proline who had won their last game 2-0 against bottom placed CRO FC.

George Nsimbe went into the game thinking about maximum points and his boys never disappointed him. Ivan Ntege netted a brace while Tony Odour and Ghadafi Kiwanuka got the other goals for the ‘Kasasiro boys’ who went to 52 point but with a game in hand.

In Mbale, URA FC remained in third position despite hammering CRO 4-0. Robert Ssentongo netted a double while Musa Docca and Feni Ali were also on target for URA.

Sports club Victoria University (SCVU) who drew 0-0 with Simba at Mandela National stadium, Namboole.

Elsewhere Express FC edged Bright Stars 1-0 at Wankulukuku with Julius Ogwang scoring just three minutes to half time.

At Nakivubo stadium SC Villa drew -2 with Vipers FC. Miya Farouk and Joseph Mpande scored for Vipers while Karim Ndugwa and Emenayo Victor got their names on the score sheet for the Jogoos.

In Kavumba, Police won 3-2 against Entebbe FC. Nyanzi Ronald netted a double while Kawooya Frank got the other. Veteran striker Kinene Yusuf scored twice for Entebbe.

Photo: Catch me if you can: SCVU’s Muwadda Mawejje (red) attempts to go past Simba’s Bagoole George

Photo Credit: SCVU Communications department

Photo moment: FUFA President Engineer Moses Magogo (2nd right) and his Vice President Darius Mugoye (extreme right) with a host of high profile dignitaries blowing the famous Vuvuzelas to signal the official launch of the Airtel Rising Stars season 4 at Kibuli Senior Secondary school today.