Kizza move reflects growing free transfer problem

Mustafa Kizza became the latest Ugandan player to find a new home abroad after joining Egyptian second-division side Telecom. However, his transfer follows a trend that should raise a concern within the local football ecosystem.

Kizza’s transfers have been both interesting and controversial. The left-back hit headlines when he joined Canadian giants Montreal Impact in July 2020. However, due to Covid restrictions, he stayed at his mother club KCCA until October 2020 when international travel was eased. His transfer fees remained undisclosed but Ugandan clubs earned about Shs2.2b from several transfer fees during that year. 

His three-year deal was prematurely terminated after one year, rendering him club less until July 2022 when he joined Portuguese club Arouca.

Drop in values

Kizza’s market value, estimated on Transfermarkt website, dropped by Shs183m from Shs1.5b following this move. After only six months at Arouca, his value halved before he returned to KCCA in February 2023 as a free agent.

He was later signed a two-year contract at Lugogo in August last year but the contract didn't see its second season.

He joined Express at the beginning of this StarTimes Uganda Premier League season but has since left for free. 

Now this is the gist othise matter – Ugandan clubs are increasingly losing players without receiving any transfer fees!

Kizza’s move escalates Fifa’s recent disturbing transfer report that Ugandan clubs did not earn a single cent from the primary transfer window (June-September).

When Kizza first flew to Canada, Ugandan clubs made Shs1.2b from the primary window alone while neighbours Kenya and Tanzania earned nothing. The situatiation has since reversed - Kenya and Tanzanian clubs have earned Shs1.06b and Shs3b while Ugandans earned nothing despite transferring at least 18 players. The statistics also show that the average age of players leaving the country has risen from 23.5 in 2020 to 25.2 in the September window.

Free agents

Among the notable transfers in this period were former Villa captain Kenneth Semakula to Club Africain in Tunisia, Bul’s Alex Kitata and Tom Ikara to Ethiopia, Villa’s Travis Mutyaba to Bordeaux and KCCA’s Muhammad Shaban to Al Hila Benghazi (Libya). Except for Mutyaba, whose deal remains unclear, the players moved on free transfers. Interestingly, Shaban’s deal is rumoured to have involved in excess of Shs1.1b ($300,000)!

This a worrying trend that federation and stakeholders must look into.

“It definitely bothers us,” Fufa’s deputy chief executive officer in charge of football, Decolas Kiiza shares the concerns. “The reason clubs aren’t benefiting is because player agents are interested in out-of-contract players more than contracted players and then there’s lack of [sufficient] knowledge about player transfers economics by most stakeholders.”

An agent who sort anonymity sheds some light: “What we call mid-level clubs out there don’t want to spend much so they also prefer free agents.

“As an agent, I share the money with several other agents and the player so sometimes we just have to get unattached players or make the ones we own to sign shorter contracts to be in business.”

During the period, Fifa revealed that a total of $6.45b (Shs23.5tr) was spent on 11,000 transfers, the second highest ever. In Africa, Mali, Egypt and Nigeria led the way, earning over Shs46b, Shs40b and Shs35b from player sales.

Ugandan men’s transfers 

(June 1- September2) summary

Incoming transfers: 22

Outgoing transfers: 18

Transfer fees spent: 0

Transfer fees received: 0

Average age of outgoing players: 25.2

Average age of outgoing players: 25.7

Transfer fees received in June windows

2020:  Shs1.15b

2021: 0

2022: Shs1.45b

2023: Shs176m