Federation of Uganda Football Associations (Fufa) president Moses Magogo has highlighted the need to develop the sports industry in the country as a whole because ‘that is the only way sports can develop and reach the goals of all sports men in the country’.
Magogo was speaking on Wednesday during a symposium organised by Fufa, in which the federation shared its successful story with the other national sports bodies.
The symposium, held in Kampala was attended by presidents, chairmen and general secretaries of the sports federations registered with National Council of sports (NCS) together with officials from the Ministry of Education and Sports and NCS.
The event was also aimed at bringing together all different sports federations and national associations and use the platform to share Fufa’s experience and story thus far.
“Fufa has been a journey. We have turned around situations which has been a turnaround in terms of progress,” continued Magogo.
Fufa has over the years enjoyed big successes in areas like Administration, Finance, governance, football development, marketing and communication which has turned and bettered the federation’s image to the extent of garnering government support to a tune of Shs10 billion.
Magogo was also full of praises for other federations that have punched beyond their weight.
“We are proud of our colleagues from netball and rugby for playing at the World Cup,” he said, outlining that Uganda Cranes has already qualified for the Afcon Finals 2017 and 2019 while the Uganda U-17 Team will feature at the Afcon Finals U-17 to be hosted by Tanzania in April.
“Our new strategy is to qualify for 2026 World Cup,” he added.
Other Fufa achievements, Magogo said include securing of land to construct a modern training facility in Rubaga at Kadiba and a stadium in Lugazi.
It is at this point that Airtel Managing Director VG Somasekhar asked Fufa to spread the game around the country as opposed to hosting national engagements at Mandela Stadium.
Federation heads react
Uganda Rugby Union president Andrew Owori acknowledged the work done by Fufa in the development of football and called for the need for other sports federations to copy from football.
“We must acknowledge that football is not on the same wavelength as the rest of the sports disciplines. We need a specific pathway for progress,” said Owori.
Uganda Olympic Committee President William Blick thanked Fufa for opening the door for other federations and asked that this initiative should not stop here and should be carried on.
“I thank Fufa for generating this think tank as it has opened up for other federations to understand how things are done. This should be made continuously,” Blick.
Uganda Tennis Federation president Cedric Babu highlighted the need of an independent sports dedicated channel as sports in general can use a bit more air play on television. But Airtel Uganda’s Brand and Communication manager Remmy Kisakye upheld the work media has done as far as reporting on local sports events.
“Ugandan media has done a tremendous job as we have seen increased nationalistic reporting of sports events. There is a changing trend in media coverage which was not the case in the past,” said Kisakye.
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