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Former Cranes International Gibby Kalule has urged the federation (FUFA) to start investing in local football than spending huge sums of money on organising friendlies with low-ranked national teams and clubs in the world.
In an audio recording received by The Touchline Sports, Kalule, while speaking to members of the Ex-internationals group attributes Uganda’s recent failure to progress to the AFCON finals from a group that seemed beatable and the recent drop in the Cranes’ FIFA rankings to the way FUFA has managed the National team’s activities.
He says, with the recent government intervention to provide monetary support to the Cranes, Uganda would be at the World Cup by now.
“From the tremendous support that the government has provided to football for the past few years, we would be now celebrating qualification to the FIFA World Cup but the blame is on FUFA,” Gibby Kalule noted before adding;
“Our national team is not doing well because the federation is not doing enough despite all the funding they get from the Government of Uganda.”
“If you look at the strategy of this federation in the past few years, they have focused a lot on organising friendlies with lowly ranked nations and clubs than growing grassroots football which would help the the national team.”
This he says in regard to the recent trips the National team has had in the different tournaments during the international break.
He goes on to blame the Federation for the club’s poor welfare and the poor condition the players are enduring at the moment. He insists FUFA needs to support the clubs.
“Imagine the clubs here in Uganda don’t even have match balls, some players are not paid by the clubs for years because these club are not supported enough by the federation.”
“Providing support to the these clubs (that make up the national team) is far better than spending billions and billions of cash on organising friendlies with lowly ranked European and Asian nations and clubs in preparation of games that we even lose.”
According to Gibby, the Uganda Federation wasted more than 10 billion Uganda Shillings for the trips to Uzbekistan and Turkey in less than a year and the country has not gained from any of them.
Uganda recently took part in the four-nation Navruz Cup, losing 4-2 against the Tournament hosts Uzbekistan in the final game of the tournament, after winning against Tajikistan 5-4 on penalties in the semifinal following a 1-1 draw in normal time.
Uzbekistan is ranked four places above Uganda in 83rd position on the FIFA rankings while Tajikistan is 114th. Krygz Republic is 95th.
In December 2021, the Cranes took part in International Build Up Games in Dubai and Abudhabi and played against Gabon and Mauritania.
In September 2021 under Johnathan McKinstry, Uganda camped in Dubai before faltering against South Sudan and Malawi in the closing stages of group B.
It should not be forgotten that Uganda still camped in Dubai under Sebatien DeSabre before a surprising performance at the 2019 AFCON cup of nations, finishing at the round of 16 after being eliminated by eliminated by Senegal.
At the tournament, Uganda beat Dr Congo, drew 1-all with Zimbabwe before losing 2-0 to Egypt, during which period the Cranes ranking oscillated between 77th and 80th.
Uganda slipped in the recently released FIFA Rankings as they now sit 86th in the world, two places below their ranking in February.
Uganda’s best ranking year was 2016, managing to reach 62nd position on January 7th – a period during which Uganda did not have as much government support as currently.
Is the Government of Uganda really supporting the wrong cause?
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