Category: Latest News

The FIFA delegation currently in Uganda to assess its performance has urged the Federation marketing and TV committee to dedicate enough time towards football activities.

The delegation led by FIFA development officer Ashford Mamelodi has however commended the committee for securing the available sponsors for the National ‘A’ team. Uganda Cranes is currently sponsored by Airtel, a telecom company that recently signed a UGX 3.8bn (About U$ 1.500.000) with FUFA over a period of four years. Other sponsors are Nile Breweries and National Insurance Cooperation (NIC).

FIFA however advised that the committee should consider looking for more potential companies to invest in the grassroot programs. “To achieve all these goals, you need to sacrifice more time towards football and prepare convincing documents to be presented to the targeted individuals or companies”, Mamelodi advised.

The committee was interfacing with the FIFA delegation on Wednesday afternoon at Emin Pasha Hotel in Kampala. Other members of the delegation include Susan Anne (South Africa) and Faye Damil (Senegal). The FUFA marketing and sponsorship committee headed by the FA President Eng. Moses Magogo also has Ronnie Mutebi, Steven Katumba, Johnson Musinguzi and Moses Kibumba.

In his remarks Magogo said he had put in place a vibrant team ready to work for football and promised to get more sponsors on board in the shortest time to come.  “ It was an experience and amazing exchange. As the FUFA Marketing Committee we are more than re-energised with skills and strategies to find more money for the game’  said Eng. Magogo.

The meeting discussed a wide range of strategies to market football in Uganda.

Three Tanzanian Referees have been confirmed to officiate the Saturday International friendly match between the Uganda Cranes and Amavubi Stars of Rwanda.

Charles Mujuni, Hamis Changwalu and Kinduli Mgazally will arrive in the country on Friday afternoon aboard Precision Air PW 762. Brian Nsubuga is the 4^th official while Ali Waiswa is the designated match commissioner.

The Rwanda delegation is expected on Friday morning and will train at Namboole stadium at 1600hrs the same day. They will be accommodated at Mt. Zion Hotel in the City Centre. Gates will be opened at 1100hrs on Saturday and the kick off time confirmed at 1600hrs.

Tickets are already on sale at Shell: Capital and Kibuye, Total: Nakivubo, City Centre, Bwaise and Kireka, Gapco: Ben Kiwanuka, Kobil: Kasubi and Kawempe, Hardware World Ntinda and City Shoppers Super Market in Mukono.

Other selling points include the Airtel outlets at Bugoloobi, Wampeewo, Wandegeya, Kampala Rd and Shoprite in Lugogo. Fans are once again warned against purchasing tickets outside the gazetted selling points.

Having taken all due diligence and contacting all the relevant Football Authorities, FUFA hereby endorses to have the U23 National Team (The Kobs) play an International friendly match against Thailand on 16^th November 2013 as per the earlier arrangement.

The team will hence forth proceed to travel under the arrangement agreed upon and with all terms as specified thereto. We regret any inconveniences that might have been caused, however this was done to ensure total compliance with the Regulations Governing International matches.

This communications supersedes earlier communications done and all concerned parties herein notified that the Uganda U23 national team shall travel to play the match on 16^th November 2013 in Thailand.

The Ugandan delegation to be led by Mr. Hamid Juma leaves this Wednesday evening. FUFA had earlier called off the match before getting authorisation from CAF.

Hope all goes well for the entire period our delegation will stay in Thailand.

Charges:

Pavilion- UGX. 20,000

Open seats- UGX. 10,000

FUFA wishes to inform the public that the tickets for the Uganda – Rwanda match have already gone on market this Tuesday.

Fans are free to walk into any of our 16 designated points and purchase the ticket(s) early enough before the congested peak hours.

The selling points are Shell: Capital, Kibuye, Total: Nakivubo, City Centre, Bwaise, Kireka, Gapco: Ben Kiwanuka, Kobil: Kasubi, Kawempe, Hardware World-Ntinda and City Shoppers Super Market in Mukono.

Others are the Airtel outlets at Bugoloobi, Wampeewo, Wandegeya, Kampala Rd and Shoprite-Lugogo.

Our fans are warned against purchasing a ticket outside the designated points or buying one at a price above or below the stated value as this may expose them to fake products.

The Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) has released a list of 18 referees who will travel to Nairobi to handle this year’s Challenge Cup matches.

Two Ugandan referees, Denis Batte and assistant referee Mark Sonko are among the delegation.The duo has just returned from Cairo where they were attending a one week ‘Elite B’ course organised by CAF.

The list released by the CECAFA Secretary General Nicholas Musonye has nine (9) referees and nine (9) assistants. All these referees will however be subjected to fitness and medical tests on arrival in Nairobi before the tournament officially kicks off, November 27.

The Referees are:

1. Anthony Okwayo-Kenya
2. Denis Batte-Uganda
3. Wish Yabarow- Somalia
4. Israel Mujuni- Tanzania
5. Louis Hakizimana- Rwanda
6. Thiery Nkurunziza- Burundi
7. Waziri Sheha- Zanzibar
8. Gebremichael Luleseged- Eritrea
9. Kheirala Murtaz – Sudan

Assistant Referees

1. Gilbert Cheruiyot- Kenya
2. Tonny Kidiya- Kenya
3. Mark sonko- Uganda
4. Fedinard Chacha- Tanzania
5. Suleiman Bashir- Somalia
6. Fraser Zakara-South Sudan
7. Simba Honore-Rwanda
8. Hamid Idam- Sudan
9. Kinfe Yimla-Ethiopia

FIFA Development officer Ashford Mamelodi has hailed the Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA) saying that its transparency and commitment in the executions of its duties was one of the reasons why the international football body continues to consider Uganda for a number of developmental programs.

“FUFA has laid a strong foundation and we are impressed with its performance for a number of years…more developmental programs will continue coming here” said Mamelodi. He was addressing the journalists at FUFA headquarters in Mengo on Monday morning.

A five man FIFA delegation is currently in Kampala to assess the performance of the federation in a number of areas. Other members of the delegation are Faye Damil, Thondoo Gorviden, Patrick Onyango and Susan Ainne.

“We are going to look at your ability to operate correctly, does the federation have a vision, are the right structures in place…” said Mamelodi when asked by the press on the purpose of their visit.

Addressing the same audience, Faye Damil said after this performance program FIFA will continue monitoring the federation performance for about 2-4 years. “We are going to help recommend strategies for you to be put in place and after a while you will look back and appreciate the importance of this program” said Faye.

Receiving the guest in his office Monday morning, the FA President Eng. Moses Magogo commended FIFA for the kind giving hand towards Uganda and promised to keep a keen eye on the implementation process of all the acquired knowledge.

The Confederation of African Football has announced the start of the Contract with Africa phase 3 Financial Assistance Program (CAFAP) which will runs until 2017.

CAF Secretary General, Hicham El Amrani revealed that the amount to be allocated to each National Association eligible for Phase 3 will be USD 125,000 up from the USD 100,000 given during Phase 2. The announcement follows the recent September CAF standing committees and CAF Executive Committee meetings. Each National Association can benefit once from this grant during the 4 year cycle of CAFAP 3

CAFAP’s main objective is to help CAF Member Associations establish long term, innovative, and tangible development projects; targeting the football infrastructures for the benefit of the football players, spectators, and football professionals such as doctors and the members of the media

The beneficiaries of phase 3 are the Member Associations of CAF and to be eligible any national association applying for CAFAP 3 should have one of its teams engaged at least once a year in a continental CAF competition. CAF will financially support projects according to defined Criteria with each project application be evaluated by the administration of CAF and approved by the Executive Committee.

Contract with Africa
The CAF FINANCIAL PROGRAM is guided by “CAF Contract with Africa”, a strategic blueprint development program launched in 2005. Under Contract with Africa, CAF is committed to empower its Member Associations by providing them support through the following three pillars of development namely Grassroots , Human Resources and Infrastructure.

Unknown thugs invaded the home of the FUFA Chief Executive Officer Edgar Watson Suubi on Friday night with an intention to set his house ablaze!

The incident happened around 1:00am in the night when the thugs still at large sprinkled petrol around Edgar’s house and lit it from behind. The situation was however saved by a University student occupying the guest wing who woke up after hearing a ‘bang’ and as he opened the door, the thugs took off.

The fire destroyed a few guest wing property  but it was stopped from spreading to the main house.

Police recovered a jerycan that contained some petrol from the scene early Saturday morning. Edgar however said the motive of the night thugs remains unknown to him. “Police continues with the investigations but we thank God that the situation was detected early enough” commented Edgar.

FUFA President Eng. Moses Magogo has commended FIFA for the series of courses advanced to Uganda saying that these will be instrumental in guiding the country to a number of achievements that may even include qualification for major events like World Cup.

Magogo was speaking at the closure of a one week administration course at Njeru Technical Centre on Friday. “We can qualify for major tournaments like Fifa world cup if we continue empowering our stakeholders with relevant knowledge and information.” said the FA President. A total of 26 participants attended the course, six of whom were females.

Magogo further emphasized that such courses would also help in solving problems of politics within the game of football. “In most instances people who politicize the game are those who don’t know the laws of the game. But with such courses we shall gradually change their attitudes.” Magogo added.

He promised to change the face of football in Uganda by using the available resources. “In my term of office, I want to capacity-build human resource so that we deal with the right people in different areas related to football management and administration” he further pointed out.

FIFA Instructor Kennedy Kebele, 44 from Zimbabwe conducted the Course.

Participants included: Alex Luganda (Legal Committee), Joseph Mutaka (Cranes Media Officer), Axam Senkayi (FSL Board Member), Ssali Paul Mukisa(Coaches Association), Dominic Muloba (Chairperson Fufa Big League), Ojok Geofrey Odur (Chairman Disciplinary Committee), Efrance Nanjego (Chairperson Women Association), Janet Makubuya (Excom Member Eastern region), Sejengo Sulaiman (C/man Buganda Region), David K. Mukidi (C/Man Northern Region) and David Davis Katabira (C/man UFRA).

Others were Nyanzi Rashid (Mutundwe Lion FC), Sumaya Hood (Personnal Assistant to President), Nalunga Sharon (Fufa secretariat),Wasukira Malik (C/man Schools), Magambo Abed Tom (Gen. Sec Eastern Region ) Ariga Rasoul (Fufa Excom Member) Nambi Loida (C/Person Women Buganda) and Mugena Agnes (North Eastern Region representative).

(Story filed by Cranes Media Officer Joseph Mutaka)

1. 1.    Uganda-Rwanda match moved to Saturday

Having been permitted by CAF as per the FIFA regulations governing international matches, FUFA has now scheduled Saturday 16th November 2013, 1600 hours as the Official date and time for the friendly match between the Uganda Cranes and the Amavubi of Rwanda.

The match venue remains Mandela National Stadium Namboole. The official gate charges are UGX 10,000/= and 20,000/= for ordinary and VIP seats respectively. Tickets will go on market on Saturday 9th November 2013.

FUFA is maintaining its usual ticket selling points in town and also considering Airtel Outlets in Kampala. The full list will soon be released. The visiting Amavubi team, to be hosted at MT. Zion Hotel jets into the country on the eve of the match.

1. 2.    Wandegeya F.C manager is dead

FUFA has learnt of the untimely death of Mr. Kwizera Charles, a brother to former Cranes player Livingstone Mbabazi. Kwizera, a former player of Express F.C, Wandegeya F.C and UMEME F.C died from Mulago Hospital. The deceased will be laid to rest at his home in Kyenjojo district on the date to be communicated by the family later. He has currently been coaching Wandegeya FC.

1. 3.    Ref Kalyango, Kalema pass tests

Referees Kalyango Ali, Kalema Ronnie, Kizito Rehema, Senkumba William and Andema William went through a fitness test organized by FRSC in Namboole and passed and are now legible to officiate matches. Kalyango and Kalema had earlier failed to impress the instructors due to poor fitness levels reportedly caused by injuries. On the same note, the Buganda region football association conducted a fitness test for its referees at Makerere University Play Ground.  Meanwhile Referee Aisha Nabikko Ssemambo finally travelled to Cairo to join Denis Batte and Mark sonko who are currently undergoing a CAF Elite ‘B’ Course.

1. 4.    FIFA Administration course closes today

The high caliber administration course which started on Monday November 2^nd  at Njeru Technical Centre will be officially closed this Friday, 02:00pm by FUFA president Eng. Moses Magogo. The course is instructed by a FIFA instructor, Mr. Ndebele Kennedy and 27 participations are part of the 5day course.

Just two days after the closure of the FIFA Administration course in Njeru Technical Centre this Friday, FUFA will yet again undertake another FIFA granted Football Management and Performance Course, an exercise that will have five high ranking FIFA officials travelling to Kampala to oversee it.

According to the program released by the Chief Executive Officer Edgar Watson this Thursday, the planned activities will include a leadership Retreat for the FUFA Executive Committee Members and a five day Organizational review to assess the federation operations.

A team of five FIFA personnel including Mr. Asford Mamelodi, Faye Damil, Thondoo Gorviden, Patrick Onyango and Susan Anne are expected in the country over the weekend before kick starting the program on Monday morning..

The FUFA Executive Committee Members’ retreat has been planned to take place at Nile Resort Hotel from Sunday 17^th to Monday 18^th November 2013. Besides this, the visiting FIFA panel will be interfacing with different key stakeholders including members of the press, standing committee members, federation employees and the Executive committee members among others.

Meanwhile the administration course that got flagged off by the FUFA first vice President Justus Mugisha will officially close this Friday. In a stretch of mess that a month, Uganda has had three FIFA workshops.

FUFA President Eng. Moses Magogo has in the most sorrowful way described the sudden death of former FUFA Delegate Stanley Kiiza as a ‘big blow to Ugandan football’.

“I have learnt with shock of the death of Mr. Stanley Kiiza. His death at this particular moment is a big blow to all of us, and more especially Ugandan Football” reads part of Magogo’s condolence message to Stanley’s family.

Magogo said the deceased genuinely served football in different positions and that his contributions remain behind as part of the positive history in Ugandan football. Late Kiiza served as an Executive Member of FUFA, Treasurer Western Region, Hoima DFA Chairman, Delegate to FUFA General Assembly and Treasurer of Kitara Region Football Association among many other portfolios.

“On behalf of the Federation of Uganda Football Associations, Member Associations of FUFA, the entire football community and all football loving Ugandans, I wish to convey our heartfelt condolence to the Family,  Friends, Relatives, Kitara Region Football Association and Hoima District football Association over this death”, the FA boss further wrote.

“We pray that you remain strong at this trying moment and that the Almighty God rests his soul in eternal peace” he concluded. The Federation enclosed One hundred Fifty Thousand Shillings (150,000) in Cash towards the burial arrangements. Kiiza was laid to rest in Hoima district over the weekend.