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What it takes to run a Uganda Premier League club
Bul winger Reagan Kalyowa (R) takes on Express' Hussein Ssenoga during a league match. PHOTO/EDDIE CHICCO
What you need to know:
Operating a top-flight football club in Uganda is not for the faint-hearted. You keep running your head into the ground but always get back up and go again the following season, hoping that one day it will all be worth it
There are countless sporting clubs and owners in the country that wake up everyday to work on a dream they hope that one day will come full circle.
In our special four-club series, a fair representation of Uganda’s 16 top-flight football teams, we examine what it takes to run a club in a league dreaming to be fully professional one day.
We set out to work with at least seven of the 16 UPL clubs - namely, KCCA, Vipers SC, URA, Bul, Soltilo Bright Stars, Arua Hill and Maroons - and reached out to all of them.
In the above we looked at parastatal, company and individually owned clubs. But we were only successful with KCCA, Bul, Bright Stars and Maroons.
URA FC board vetoed volunteering any information on the project, saying it was “not for public consumption”, while Vipers largely let the requests die a slow death, and Arua Hill simply stopped the communication.
In these series you will find out that most, if not all, Ugandan clubs operate in losses, and that while they have some sponsors, there is not much coming from these sponsors. But it’s something, at least!
Not attracting big money from sponsors can also be attributed to the clubs themselves not producing a product good enough to attract both fans and sponsors.
You will also discover that representing Uganda on the continent is no mean feat.
Parastatal clubs such as KCCA and Maroons, however, always have a bigger advantage than privately owned ones since they have a head-start from their mother institutions every season.
Enjoy this series starting Tuesday, November 28, 2023 both on the website and in print.
