30 NEW VISION, Thursday, January 3, 2013 ADVERT

FEDERATION OF FOOTBALL ASSOCIATIONS FUFA House, Plot 879, Wakaliga Road - Mengo. P.O. Box 22518, , Uganda Fax: +256 414 272702, Website: www.fufa.co.ug, Email: [email protected]

FUFA PRESIDENT’S END OF YEAR/ NEW YEAR MESSAGE

5. CECAFA-Tusker Cup 11. Competitions Committee We commend the founders of Uganda Cranes We successfully hosted the All Leagues in the country were successfully Initiative (UCI) for appreciating the challenges 36th edition of the CECAFA Senior concluded within the stipulated time of 30th June. FUFA has been facing especially in regard to fund- Challenge Cup (CECAFA Tusker Cup We successfully organized the Bell and ing our national team by subsequently launching a 2012) and emerged champions after for the first time, we had the finals held out of cash drive through the UCI. edging archrivals 2-1 in the Kampala in Pece Stadium, Gulu district. finals. This was Uganda’s The Club Licensing process was successfully We thank UCI for all the support they extended to 13th CECAFA title since 1973 and the undertaken and concluded putting Uganda among our victorious CECAFA team and we will continue to 4th win in the same competition since the few compliant member associations as per CAF work hand in hand. we assumed offices on 17th December requirement. 2005. Uganda produced the To all our sponsors, we are grateful for the support tournament’s top scorer (Robert All the basic sets of rules have been formulated and extended towards football activities in the country. Sentongo), best player (Brian Omony) approved; namely: The Club Licensing Regulations; and the best Goal Keeper (Hamza Rules on the Status and Transfer of Players; The OUR FOCUS IN 2013 Muwonge). FUFA Super League Rules and The FUFA Big League Rules. FUFA will be looking to consolidating our registered 6. Youth Football achievements in 2012 as we scale up new heights. FUFA has paid a lot of attention to 12. MTN-FUFA inter region competition The immediate targets include: promoting youth football in a bid to With sponsorship from MTN, FUFA held a successful build a strong foundation for our senior inter regional competition in Arua where Eastern • Maintaining a good working relationship with teams. FUFA has supported many emerged champions. FUFA appreciates the FIFA, CAF, CECAFA, government and our youth competitions like the COPA continued support from MTN and we are optimistic sponsors. Coca Cola Schools Championships, that this partnership will continue to tap new talents FUFA S1/S2 U-16 championship, Inter from the grassroots. • Ensuring successful 2014 World Cup qualifiers Regional U-17 youth tournament and by preparing Cranes well through organizing Fellow countrymen, City Tyres U 14 Youth tournament. 13. Women football international friendly matches for our national These competitions have helped broaden the youth FUFA organized several women football activities team. base and players in these competitions are slowly across the country geared towards developing I hope we all had a wonderful Christmas. I thank • Solicit sponsorship for the FUFA Super League, rising up to face the challenge of featuring for the women football further. God for helping us all complete 2012 peacefully and Big League, FUFA Regional leagues, beach senior team when need arises. hope the New Year 2013 will be much better. I soccer league, women league and other football Liser Berg, a women Technical Consultant from USA commiserate with all of you who have lost loved activities. ones. FUFA has also facilitated the training of games continues to help the federation promote football teachers across the country in coaching and development. A course for female coaches was • Implement the new constitution and finalize the In a bid to foster accountability even in football administration. conducted in January with 38 participants. process of creating new statutes for regional and management, I wish to address the general public lower levels. Because of the strong football structures my Kawempe Muslim School won the girls overall on the number of achievements and challenges my • Assemble a competitive team of locally based administration has set up right from the grassroots, football trophy at the East and Central Africa administration has encountered in 2012 and propose players to participate in the CAF organized Cranes was able to quickly find replacements for Secondary Schools Championships held in Burundi a way forward for 2013. CHAN competition. retiring stars Ibrahim Sekagya, David Obua and in August 2012. ACHIEVEMENTS Nistelroy Kizito. • Maintain a strong Cranes brand so as to attract 14. Media Relations more sponsors for our activities. Our national youth teams have impressed on the We have been able to hold our weekly press 1. Statutes amendment • Strengthen further our youth structures right from continental scene with the Hippos (U20) ejecting conferences throughout the year. We commend the With consultation and guidance from FIFA, CAF and the grassroots. CECAFA, we have been able to put in place a new Mozambique in the CAF Africa U20 Championship members of the press for positive and timely FUFA amended constitution which was officially and losing narrowly to African Youth champions reporting of FUFA/Football activities. • Continue working towards unity among all stake endorsed by the General Assembly on August 25th, Ghana. holders for purposeful intentions related to 2012 at Pope Paul Memorial Hotel. The new statutes 15. FUFA-Airtel Rising Stars football development. 7. Cranes improved performance FUFA partnered with Airtel to hold the U-16 Airtel will help address any football related challenges that • Conduct free and fair elections at all levels later Although Uganda failed to qualify for the AFCON Rising stars tournament for boys and girls in all affected football in the past. in the New Year. 2013 finals due in South Africa early next year, the regions, with the finals taking place in Jinja. 2. FUFA-Govt. relationship Cranes had a good performance against continental • Organize more courses in areas of refereeing, We have maintained a cordial working relationship champions Zambia. Cranes 1-0 victory in the normal 16. License Plus FIFA donation coaching and administration among others. time is partly the reason for our most recent FUFA has installed a fully connected automated with the central government throughout the year. We • Promote and develop further women football. are grateful to the Minister of Education and Sports improved position in the FIFA Coca Cola rankings. player registration and licensing soft ware (‘License Hon. Jessica Alupo, the State Minister for Sports Cranes also beat Congo Brazzaville 4-0 at Namboole +) which will be fully operational starting the • Engage the underage teams into preparatory Hon. Charles Bakabulindi and the National Council to keep their home record intact. The Cranes also 2013/2014 season. This soft ware is the first of its matches. of Sports (NCS) among others, who have stood by posted a better away record losing marginally to kind in Africa and will simplify our operations in the • Keep up our supervisory role in all association our side. Zambia away in Ndola. players’ registration exercise. We are grateful to football related matters. FIFA for facilitating this process. • Maintain the culture of holding FUFA weekly (2b) Uganda Olympic Committee 8. World Cup 2014 campaign press conferences for purposes of information Despite the challenges within the Uganda Olympic We wind up the year with 2 points from two matches 17. CAF License ‘C’ Course dissemination and accountability. Committee, FUFA has had a good working so far played after forcing a crucial draw against We conducted a CAF License ‘C’ course for Super relationship with the Olympics body and a course for Angola in Luanda and resisting a defeat against Division and a few FUFA Big League club coaches. • Strengthening the FUFA Secretariat by elite coaches that was held in Makerere University Senegal in Kampala. We are left with 4 matches, two This was a CAF requirement and out of the 39 appointing Competitions Director, Commercial was secured under the Olympic solidarity of which are home engagements against Angola and participants, 28 obtained the required pass mark for Director and Director Finance, among others. arrangement. Liberia. Cranes will play Liberia and Senegal away. the award of the CAF License C. • Further promote beach soccer. The current table standing gives us equal

3. CAF President’s visit opportunities to advance to the next stage. 18. Beach Soccer: Conclusion We invited and hosted the CAF President, Dr. Issa FUFA in partnership with Uganda Beach Soccer The Year 2013 will require a continued collective Hayatou from November 23 to 25. We are optimistic 9. Discovered new talent for national team Clubs Association successfully organized the first effort from all stakeholders. Football must be put at that his three day visit to Uganda will bear fruits Several players featured for the Cranes in the WC/ fully fledged beach soccer clubs League, corporate the helm and we work towards its consolidation and starting this coming New Year. During his visit, AFCON qualifiers, international friendlies and league, women tournament and the inter University development. Hayatou was able to hold talks with the FUFA CECAFA and impressed our technical team. Some competition.

Executive Committee and met H.E the Vice of the exceptional talent we discovered includes Happy New Year to you all. President of Uganda, Edward Kiwanuka Sekandi Godfrey Baba Kizito, Joseph Ochaya, Robert 19. Stand-by Generator among other activities. Sentongo, Saidi Kyeyune, Nicholas Wadada and We conclude this year with a modern standby Together we can build the game. Moses Oloya. generator, fully installed at our headquarters in 4. FUFA Super League Mengo. The 70KV generator was a donation from The amendment of the statutes of the top tier league 10. Built a strong Cranes brand our partners-National Insurance Corporation (NIC). created the ‘FUFA Super League’ which is on FUFA has built a strong Cranes brand and this has We are grateful to them for this kind donation. running with 16 clubs. The participating clubs been evidenced by the number of corporate instituted an independent board to manage it and it’s companies that are sponsoring our national team. Key Challenges encountered already operational. Their offices are located at The big fans turn out at Cranes local and international Our failure to qualify for the continental finals in Green Land Towers in Kampala City Centre. The 16 engagements and the inception of the Uganda South Africa 2013, despite the enormous efforts put FUFA Super League clubs are now individually Cranes Initiative are further testimony that the public in to ensure qualification, together with the limited LAWRENCE MULINDWA direct FUFA members. is now willing to identify with our national team. funding of football activities, were the leading challenges. FUFA PRESIDENT