Musisi, Sekagya moves still the biggest soccer transfers

KAMPALA. There are not many big transfers that Ugandan players make abroad. It is why any move outside Uganda will get many talking.
Yet again, Joseph Ochaya is the talk of town after completing a Shs432m move from league holders KCCA to Zambian Premier League side Lusaka Dynamos.
Expected to earn a reported $7000 (Shs25m) a month, it will be Ochaya’s third stint outside Uganda having played at Ghana club Asante Kotoko with returns to Lugogo and Vietnam.
1978 Africa Cup of Nations’ stars Phillip Omondi and Tom Lwanga went to UAE. At the time, money wasn’t the big issue. But the game has evolved in many ways today and money runs the beautiful game.
So often, Ugandan players end up in Vietnam, Kenya, Iraq, Saudi Arabia or Rwanda but never make big moves to big football playing countries.
Below, Daily Monitor recounts some of the top transfers that Ugandan players have made over the years.

Majid Musisi
He was the first Ugandan player to make a direct transfer from here to Europe after he joined French side Stade Rennes from SC Villa for $180,000 in 1992. After Rennes, Musisi left for Turksish side Bursapor in 1994 for a reported fee of $1m and later had a stint with Dardenelspor. Thereafter he returned to Kampala.

Farouk Miya
Since Musisi left Villa for Rennes, no other Ugandan player had ever made a direct move to Europe from here until Miya joined Belgian club Standard Liege for $400,000 (Shs1.4b) from Vipers at the start of last year. Having struggled for playing time, Miya is currently on loan at Royal Mouscron.

Ibrahim Sekagya
In June 2007, then Uganda Cranes skipper joined Austrian champions Red Bulls Salzburg in a deal estimated at €1m (Shs2.2b). The central defender moved to Europe from Argentina’s Premier Division side Arsenal de Serrandi where he had spent three years. In early 2013, he moved to New York Red Bulls where he became one of the club’s top earners.

David Obua
After former Cranes coach Lazlo Csaba joined Heart of Midlothian, Obua joined him on a free transfer from South African club Kaizer Chiefs in July 2008. He played for the Scottish club for four years, making 91 appearances and scoring six goals. He was reported to earn £8000 a week.

Jackson Mayanja
After scoring 23 goals in 1991, Egyptian giants El-Masry captured Mayanja’s signature for a fee rumoured to be $30,000 in 1992. His eight goals helped the side finish fourth in his debut season. In 1995, he fell out with El-Masry, returning home but would later sign a two-year deal with Tunisia’s Esperance who apparently paid $20,000 to El-Masry. Knee problems hampered his new move.

Moses Oloya
Only last June, Oloya joined Russian side Kuban Krasnodar in a deal worth $400,000 (Shs1.4b) from Became Binh Duong. But in December, a month before the Africa Cup of Nations, Oloya signed again for Vietnamese V-league giants Hà Nội T&T FC in an undisclosed deal.

Salim Jamal
Moneybags El-Merreikh signed Jamal for a four-year deal worth $120,000 (Shs300m) after his parent club KCCA had eliminated them in the Caf Champions League preliminary round. He would go on to receive $30,000 (Shs70m) annually besides his monthly salary.

Emmanuel Okwi
Having failed trials at Red Bull Salzburg, Okwi joined Tunisian club Etoile du Sahel for a reported fee of $300,000 (Shs750m) from Tanzanian club Simba. However, the deal fell through as Simba claimed Okwi had gone AWOL while paper work was incomplete. The striker had joined Simba in 2010 from SC Villa for $40,000. Interestingly and perhaps disappointingly, he’s back at Villa and has seven goals in seven games.

Nestroy Kizito
He put pen to paper on a two-year contract with Serbian champions Partizan Belgrade at an undisclosed fee after five seasons with Vojvodina.

Moving to DR Congo
Back then, Congolese players pursued careers in the local league here but things have changed.
Patrick Ochan penned a five-year deal with African giants TP Mazembe worth $100,000 (Shs238m) in 2013 from Simba. He was joined by Mike Mutyaba from El-Merriekh at $50,000 the same year with $30,000 (about Shs90m then) as a sign-on fee.
But both were out of the Lubumbashi-based side a year later. After scoring three goals in the Chan tournament, Yunus Ssentamu signed a four-year deal with AS Vita from Vipers in a move worth Shs300m in 2014.
He joined CS Sfaxien the following year.