By 
The Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA) has announced sweeping reforms to the Uganda Premier League that will come into effect in the 2025/26 season. The new structure replaces the traditional straight league format with a three-round system designed to keep the competition intense from start to finish.
Previously, the Uganda Premier League was played in a simple double round-robin format where 16 teams met each other home and away, with the champion decided by the highest points tally and the bottom three sides automatically relegated. That system, which had been in place for several years, will now be retired in favour of a more segmented and competitive structure.
Under the new plan, the season will begin with all 16 teams playing each other once. At the end of this first round, the table will be split into two groups of eight. The top half will enter Group One while the bottom half will move into Group Two. These groups will then contest full home-and-away fixtures in the second round. From Group One, the best six teams will advance to a final stage to battle for the championship, while the remaining two will settle in seventh and eighth place. In Group Two, the leading pair will end their season in ninth and tenth place, while the other six teams will proceed to a relegation stage.
The third round will feature two decisive groups. Group Three, made up of the six top contenders, will play a one-leg format to decide the champion and positions up to sixth place.
Group Four, made up of the six teams fighting relegation, will also play one-leg fixtures to determine who survives. The bottom of the table will be reshaped with teams in 11th to 13th retaining their league status, the 14th-placed side contesting a playoff with the FUFA Big League’s third-placed team, and those finishing 15th and 16th dropping directly into the second division ( FUFA Big League)
The reforms also stretch beyond the league format. Clubs will now be required to register only players with at least two years remaining on their contracts, except for those turning 31 during the season.
The use of Catapult tracking technology has been made compulsory, and teams must submit both performance and business data within 48 hours of each match.
In addition, the federation has committed UGX 500 million in prize money for the season, with the eventual champions expected to pocket up to UGX 100 million across the three rounds. Revenue sharing has also been streamlined to ensure transparency and fairness among clubs.
