The Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA) Eng. Moses Magogo addressed the media on Monday, December 30, 2019 with the end of year message.
This was conducted at FUFA House, Mengo in Kampala during a press conference that was broadcast live on 102.1 FUFA f.m, with a live stream on the official FUFA Facebook page, twitter handle and FUFA TV (on You-Tube).
www.fufa.co.ug captured the speech verbatim (word for word).
30th December 2019
FUFA PRESIDENT ENG. MOSES MAGOGO
END OF YEAR ADDRESS ON FOOTBALL IN UGANDA
Dear Fellow Countrymen,
Dear the Football Family
I am here to address the Nation about the State of football at the end of the year 2019 and our plans for the future.
Our Vision is:
To become the number one football Nation in Africa on and off the field
Our Mission is:
To Develop, Promote and Protect Football for all
Our overall Objective at FUFA is summarised in our Motto
It is Our Game, It is Our Country.
We dream to provide the beautiful game as a solution to some of the socio-economic challenges of our country.
Glory to the Almighty
May the Glory be to the Almighty Allah for the gifts of life, wisdom and ability to execute our different roles as a football family.
Before I proceed any further I take the opportunity to thank;
- HE, The President of the Republic of Uganda, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni
- The Minister of Education and Sports, Maama Janet Museveni
- The outgoing Minister of State for Sports Hon. Charles Bakkabulindi. He is the unsung hero who stood with us in the thick and thin. I am very certain that wherever he is reassigned and in the Parliament of Uganda he will remain the positive Ambassador of sports. I also take the opportunity to welcome Hon. Hamson Dennis Obua. As a person and as football we commit to offer our unlimited support to Mr. Obua
- The entire MoES and MOFPED
- The Right Honourable Speaker of Parliament and the entire Parliament of the Republic of Uganda
- The National Council of Sports (NCS).
- Religious and Cultural Leaders
- My family and the families of football servants who get less time with us than they deserve.
- My special friends who identified with me when I needed them most. Hon. Anita Among for what you have done for me as the President of FUFA and for the entire Uganda football community
- The ethical Media who professionally reported about the actions of athletes on the pitches but even those who genuinely and positively criticised us.
- Our dear Sponsors, Airtel the official sponsors of the Uganda Cranes, FUFA football partners and other sponsors of football in Uganda.
- FIFA, CAF and CECAFA for the international confidence and financial support
- The Uganda Olympic Committee (UOC)
- The Uganda Cranes players and Coaches, but also the entire football coaches family, players and Referees of the game football in Uganda
- The Executive Committee, FUFA Staff, FUFA Delegates, the Judicial Bodies, the Standing and adhoc Committees
- The 34 Members of FUFA thus the Clubs, Regions and Special Interest Groups (SIGs)
- Various Service Providers such as Our Bankers, Auditors, Insurers, management of various Stadiums, Police and other security organs.
- The gallant fans of the Uganda Cranes but also generally those who pay to watch and support Club football at all levels in Uganda.
- I also wish to congratulate myself as the first Ugandan to be elected to the CAF Executive Committee in 2019.
Achievements and Challenges:
Governance
The stability of FUFA has been built on very strong constitutional provisions. There has been continuous improvement on the provisions of the FUFA Statutes to accommodate the demands of the modern game.
The practicing and enforcement of the FUFA statutes within the bodies of FUFA and to its Members has been key to the success of FUFA and football.
It is not by accident that the FUFA President and on several occasions many high ranking officials can be absent but FUFA Programmes and activities continue successfully. We are a constitutionally highly disciplined organisation.
Achievements:
Statutory Events
In 2019, FUFA has been able to organise all the statutory meetings of the General Assembly, Executive Committees, Standing Committees as provided for in the statutes. This helps in making all-inclusive decisions.
Amendments of Statutes
FUFA amended its Statutes to increase on the minimum number of women in the FUFA General Assembly from 4.5% to 13.6% and from 6.7% to 13.3% for the FUFA Executive Committee.
Audit
- FUFA as the extension of NCS underwent forensic audit by the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development for funds received from Government of Uganda.
- FUFA also successfully underwent the FIFA Central Audit by international external auditors appointed by FIFA.
- Overall FUFA accounts were also audited and passed by the 95th FUFA General Assembly in Adjumani.
- We have for the first year processed and recorded our finance transactions using Sun Systems Application. We also operated a zero-cash expenditure.
Challenges
Judicial Processing
Whereas the creation and independence of the FUFA Judicial Processes and Systems has been achieved, FUFA has not empowered these bodies yet as they need relevant resources and skills to protect football.
Statutes of Members
Many of our Members; the clubs, regions and Special Interest Groups (SIGs) are still struggling with governance challenges. As FUFA we will continue to engage our members for better governance.
Development
Development is a strategic direction of FUFA to ensure that young people access organised football at the right age. We have registered tremendous growth in this area.
Achievement
Human Resource Training
FUFA and its Members continue to provide training for the Human Resource to deliver football. Courses for Referees, Sports Medicine, Coaches, administration and Management have been organised but the training for scouts, intermediaries and converting our elite coaches to managers has been the highlight achievement in this segment.
Youth
Introduction of the FUFA Odilo Challenge (National Inter-Primary Schools Championship), financing the winning school and runners up to represent Primary Schools in the Federation of East Africa Secondary Schools Sports Association (FEASSSA) Games in Arusha, Tanzania.
The National U15 (Boys) and U17 (Girls) teams were introduced and participated in International Championships which they went on to win. The FUFA Juniors League has been organised and many graduate players have continued to join the senior sides of their clubs in the Uganda Premier League.
Women
There has also been visible tremendous growth of women football in Uganda. Our Creation of the Take Flight (FUFA Women Super League-FWSL) is another step in the right direction.
Beach & Futsal
Beach Soccer and Futsal continue to grow in leaps and bounds. It is a new trend that many private facilities for Futsal-like games have been constructed.
Challenge
Relatively new forms of football, specialised equipment and technical persons for coaching and refereeing are insufficient.
Infrastructure, Facilities & Equipment
Sports like all other activities require the proper infrastructure.
Achievements
Extension of FUFA Headquarters; From Eight (8) staff in 2013 to Sixty (60) staff in 2019
It was paramount that the football headquarters could no longer provide a proper working environment for the staff. In 2019, FUFA using the FIFA Forward Programme, has completed the acquisition, modification, reconstruction and equipping the Extension of FUFA House with a Bungalow and 3-storied tower sitting on about 2 acres adjacent to the Old FUFA House in Mengo.
Phase-1 of Kadiba:
FUFA using the FIFA Forward Programme has completed phase-1 of the Kadiba Project as planned. The Pitch has been set and installed. The foundation for the Pavilion and dressing rooms finished too. The second Phase will push the project to the facility being useable but not complete and over 1m USD from the FIFA Forward Programme has already been approved for this phase.
We are also close to resuming work on the Lugazi stadium Project whose land was donated by the Buganda Kingdom.
Challenges:
Our biggest challenge as sport in this country is infrastructure. We have insufficient quality and quantity sports facilities. The sports equipment is still insufficient too and expensive.
The Regional Football Associations have failed to provide land in the names of FUFA to benefit from the 80m UGX per region that had been set aside as a FIFA Forward Project to help in the construction of Regional FUFA playgrounds.
International Football
FUFA and its Members have been very active in international football. It is the first time that we have entered all competitions available for Clubs and National Teams. The results have also been tremendous;
Achievements
- Uganda U15 Boys CECAFA Champions in Eritrea)
- Uganda U17 Boys CECAFA Champions in Tanzania
- Uganda U17 Girls COSAFA Champions Mauritius
- Uganda U17 Girls CECAFA Champions in Uganda
- Uganda Cranes-CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup Champions in Uganda
- CECAFA Kagame Club Champions (KCCA FC) in Rwanda
(It is only 6th time that a Ugandan Club wins in 46 editions, only 3 Ugandan Clubs-Sc Villa, Police FC and KCCA FC have won the Kagame clubs cup, the last being 13 years ago)
- Uganda qualified for the CAF U17 AFCON finals for the first time and narrowly missed qualification to the U17 FIFA World Cup
- Uganda’s AFCON back to back Qualification and registered 2nd best performance ever at the Finals.
- Uganda Cranes’ 5th Consecutive CHAN Qualification
- Already leading the 2021 AFCON Qualifiers Group with 4 points
- Runners Up in the 6-Nation East Africa Beach Soccer Competition-Copa Dar as Salaam (Tanzania)
- Finished 3rd in the CECAFA Women Challenge Cup (Tanzania)
- Both KCCA FC and Proline FC played 3 rounds of the CAF Inter-Club Competitions
FUFA was also able to recruit the National Head Coach of Uganda Cranes without affecting the performance of the team.
Challenges:
The stability of our players at high level clubs football is the biggest challenge.
We also need to qualify our teams for the continental final competitions (organised for National Youth football teams).
Our Clubs are not breaking through the final stages of the CAF Inter Club competitions.
Competitions:
The final product for football is competitions. Football revenues are generated from organising proper football competitions. Football competitions are the market place for the work done by all other departments of football.
Achievements:
In addition to providing 128m UGX as prize money, FUFA now offers;
- full medical insurance to 400 players of the Uganda Premier League Clubs
- Air tickets to the clubs that represent Uganda in CAF Club Competitions
FUFA organises 13 football competitions (Uganda Premier League, FUFA Big League, Uganda Cup, FUFA Women’s Cup, FUFA Super8, FUFA Super Cup, FUFA Juniors League, Odilo Championship, The FUFA Drum, FUFA Women Super League, FUFA Women Elite League, FUFA Women’s Cup and the FUFA National Beach Soccer League)
The Sensational FUFA Drum continued to grow immensely
Challenge
Governance, management and financial stability at the elite clubs remains the biggest challenge to organising proper football competitions.
The quality of Competitions is very dependent upon the available infrastructure.
Marketing & Communications:
Association football is a commercial product created by artists called players, coaches, referees, clubs, officials and associations that is bought by the Fans and Sponsors. It is therefore paramount that proper communication and marketing techniques are put in place to grow and eventually sell the football brand.
Achievement:
More and renewed Sponsorships; FUFA continued to grow its Sponsorship Profile to a current tune of UGX 8 billion (About 2.15m USD). There are currently over 20 corporate sponsorships for football alone to FUFA and its Members to a tune of over UGX 12 billion (about 3.25m USD).
Social Media Numbers; FUFA has continued to grow its social media numbers. Currently FUFA runs verified Twitter and Facebook accounts. The Instagram and YouTube Channels have this year been activated. FUFA has a combined social media registered and/or subscribed following community of over350,000 from about 50,000 at the beginning of 2019.
FUFA Awards; for the 5th consecutive year, the FUFA Awards were organised and over the 5 years, a combined 10 cars have been given to the Most Valuable Male and Female players. Prize money has also been staked for the over 14 categories each year during the FUFA Awards.
102.1 FUFA fm; The football Radio has increased on its revenues by many fold although yet to break even.
Events; There has been growth in organising our social corporate responsibility activities by donating clothes in Masaka and taking football courses to the inmates at Luzira Upper Prison which culminated in a Football tournament- FUFA Cup of Hope. FUFA has also demonstrated increased internal ability by organising simultaneous national and international events without any major hiccups. In 2019 FUFA hosted 3 international football events, received over and hosted 1,200 international guests.
The FUFA Drum; The fans following this new phenomenal competition continued to grow. Acholi and Lango hosted the finals of the 2nd edition.
The Brand of FUFA; There is no commercial brand in Uganda that is berated, maligned, lambasted, vituperated and torn apart like FUFA and its officials and many times wrongly, out of ignorance, deliberate negative propaganda, extortion and arms twisting by a section of the media and mass commentators.
Challenges:
Sponsorship Profile: Whereas a lot has been achieved with Sponsorship, as football we believe sharing 12 billion UGX (About 3.25m USD) out of the available in Uganda’s Ad spend of 1,000 billion UGX (About 270m USD) is not enough for the industry. Football is consuming only 1.2%.
National Teams’ Fans attendance; Despite posting outstanding sporting results, the desire by fans to throng Uganda Cranes Matches has noticeably reduced.
Foreign Sports Mind-set; A large section of the Middle Class that has power to spend and many low-level consumers still embrace and spend billions consuming international football. As Ugandan football, we have not done enough strategically to tap into this market.
Members embracing technology; Whereas FUFA may be trying but still not to the desired levels, the 34 FUFA Members have not embraced technology (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter) to build their respective brands and events so as to be able to connect to current and potential customers.
Finance and Administration:
Finances and proper Administration ensure delivery of the objectives of the organisation.
Achievement
FUFA deployed the New SunSytems accounting software and we have run a zero-cash policy for the whole of 2019.
Management of Assets
We acquired a new Bus from Government and 30kVA Generator from NIC
Challenge
Finance is a resource and will never be sufficient. We still need to work hard and generate more resources for the Members of FUFA.
Membership:
FUFA is an organisation that has been registered by the National Council of Sports as the monopoly of Association football in Uganda. It is a private organisation owned by the 34 Member Associations. The 34 Members are;
- Each of the 16 Uganda Premier League Clubs,
- Each of the 8 Geographical Regional Associations (Eastern, Northern, West Nile, Kitara, Western, Buganda, North East and Kampala)
- Each of the 8 Special Interest Groups (Women, Referees, Players, Schools, Youth, Coaches, Beach Soccer and Futsal)
- The 2nd Division League (FUFA Big League)
- The Uganda Women Elite League
The FUFA President and the FUFA Executive Committee have a delegated 4-year mandate through elections to protect the interest of the 34 members.
There is a big difference between the National Mens’ Football Team (Uganda Cranes) and entirety of Ugandan Association Football. The Uganda Cranes activities constitute less than 5% of the activities that FUFA and its members undertake to create association football. FUFA just happens to be the custodians of the Uganda Cranes as well.
The Government of Uganda finances the activities of the Uganda Cranes not activities of FUFA.
As the President and my Executive Committee, we shall therefore not allow any interpretations and confusions that present our game which we create through players, coaches, referees, clubs, associations, officials etc to be considered as a natural resource for Uganda. FUFA does not hold the game of association football on behalf of the population of Uganda but the 34 Members who make the game.
Achievements:
- The Futsal Association of Uganda was admitted as a full member of FUFA.
- FUFA has provided direct financial support of 325m to Regional Football Associations, Special Interest Groups and the active District Football Associations.
- FUFA has recruited one fulltime Permanent Staff on the FUFA Payroll for each of the 8 Regional Football Associations
Challenges:
The number of District Football Associations playing football has tremendously decreased.
Challenges to Football/Sport
Infrastructure
The biggest challenge holding back the take-off of Ugandan Football in particular but Sports in general is lack of sufficient and quality sports facilities. There is only one National Stadium that is in a very sorry state. The regional stadiums are not anything to mention. We cannot develop, prepare and present athletes to compete internationally without proper equipment and infrastructure. The sports equipment is very expensive and consequently insufficient if not non-existent.
Law
The only Ugandan sports law is the archaic 1964 NCS Act whose statutory instrument was issued 50 years later importing provisions of the 1939 Trustees Act meant for Land. The current law does not address the challenges of the rapidly changing modern game such as doping, match fixing, commercialisation, arbitration etc
Human Resource
The Modern Game requires experienced, well-drilled and motivated human resource at all levels. Whereas FUFA Continues to provide courses but it is important a proper curriculum in higher institutions of learning provides sports professional support courses in Sports Law, Medicine, ICT, Engineering, Marketing, Sports Science & Nutrition etc.
There is also a challenge that we have failed to get Ugandan Players performing at the highest international clubs’ level. Many turn professional and after a short stint fail to cut the grade in average leagues.
Match Fixing
Match-fixing is one of the capital offenses in football. There have been allegations of match-fixing for sporting or betting reasons. Whereas FUFA conducted an inquiry into match officiation and many culprits have since been apprehended by the independent FUFA Judicial bodies arising out of the report, match-fixing goes beyond the match officiation.
We need all to Recognize, Report and Resist (3Rs) attempts of match fixing. Whereas we may have the will to fight match fixing but the agents of such acts are very sophisticated to be detected and proven guilty by FUFA and its own bodies. Unless for very obvious cases, the skills and resources to conclusively detect these acts are way beyond our means as the Football Association.
Detractors:
The successful story that we have built at FUFA has also attracted self-seeking people. We are victims of our own success.
Where we have protected the game, we have stepped on some toes.
Generally, many people have ended up being disadvantaged by the re-organisation at FUFA through creating systems, processes and structures.
We have analysed the pockets of resistance as a handful of individuals who have a common target of bringing down the person of the FUFA President with different missions. There are those fighting because we denied them;
- a commission off clubs’ current and previous sponsorship money
- to traffic players internationally outside the provisions of football rules
- to earn from football without doing any economic value addition to the game
- the chance to confuse the public with the tired stories of FUFA’s legal status (mainly of stories like FUFA Limited etc)
- the chance to confuse the public that football can only be delivered by having personal money and not good systems and planning.
After failing to beat the systems and water down our well-laid achievements they have resorted to targeting the person of the FUFA President and other key FUFA officials by confusing the unsuspecting public and Government agencies to their side through paid propaganda and blackmail.
I am currently the first Ugandan elected to the CAF Executive Committee in the 62-year history of CAF.
There are many Ugandans in the areas of Stadium security, referees, technical analysts, instructors, match commissioners, players, media, event organisation etc that are involved in African football out of deliberate efforts not by accident.
It is an occupational hazard for an African FA President to be maligned and be responsible for all the bad and nothing of the good.
We may not notice as a country, we need to be very careful but creating another international figure in World Football may not need less than 20 years.
If their interest is making football better, then they should criticise our works and output with alternative programmes. For me to take FUFA Leadership, I did not fight against Dr. Lawrence Mulindwa. Some of those who fought him have joined the positive energy and we welcomed them but those who persisted are still in the bush fighting and football has rejected them.
The FUFA Leadership will always be determined by the vote of the 34 FUFA Members represented by the 88 Delegates and every four years an opportunity arises.
There is no need to crash persons who have built the institution you may wish to takeover. We need to be congratulated for the tremendous achievements.
We have delivered what our fans desire way beyond the means and expectation. There is reason to involve the public and fans in methods to acquire leadership at FUFA. This damages the Uganda football brand that we must all work to jealously build and protect.
You can
say whatever you want to say,
write whatever you want to write,
believe whatever you want to believe
but even the hardest critics have applauded our overall performance on and off the pitch.
Way Forward
Consolidate Achievements
FUFA and Football shall work harder to consolidate the achievements registered.
Judicial Processes
In order to protect football, the FUFA Independent Judicial Bodies shall be empowered, facilitated in 2020 and thereafter
Youth Football
The regulations for the Licensing and grading of Football Academies have been completed and we will soon embark on the licensing exercise in 2020.
The Player Development Curriculum will be deployed in 2020.
We will continue with nation-wide Competitions for youth football introducing the Odilo version for the Girls in 2020
Infrastructure
We will concentrate to make Kadiba in a useable state in 2020 and also mobilise for the Commencement of the FUFA Stadium in Lugazi also the same year.
We will consolidate our efforts to have the regional playgrounds commence in 2020.
We intend to engage Government on the matter of sports infrastructure and policies of public sports facilities creation and maintenance. For example the plans for the cities should have a minimum requirement of an international stadium. We also intend to engage Government on matters of rallying private sector support to construct and provide sports facilities.
FUFA will occupy the new state of art premises in 2020.
Advocacy
We also intend to engage Government on enacting a news Sports Law and infrastructure in 2020.
We will undertake Protect Football mass media advocacy
Technology
We intend to capture and distribute a lot of football content by use of technology. We will also undertake deliberate efforts to interest our members to embrace technology
The FUFA TV idea will be actualized in 2020.
Medical Insurance
I will take this opportunity to officially announce that in 2020 we have provided Full Medical Insurance for the 400 players of the Uganda Premier League by AAR.
This will cater for injuries to players and compensation for permanent disabilities as a result of injuries.
I wish you a Happy New Year 2020.
FUFA PRESIDENT
ENG. MOSES MAGOGO HASSIM
