PHOTO: FUFA President Hon. Eng. Moses Hassim Magogo talking to Communications Director Ahmed Marsha Hussein, shortly after the Press conference, on Saturday
NEWS EDITOR MEDIA
FEDERATION of Uganda Football Association (FUFA) Executive Committee on suspended new format of the 2025/2026 StarTimes Uganda Premier League season after a series of high profile meetings chaired by FUFA supreme leader Hon. Eng. Moses Magogo at the Federation’s headquarters in Mengo, Kampala!
The meetings followed consultations with the UPL clubs, league sponsors, the Uganda Premier League Board and fans who advised FUFA to suspend the new format pending further studying of this format.
Announcing the outcome of the Saturday meetings, Hon. Magogo revealed that, “Football wins, no more excuses, fans go back to the stadiums and support your clubs!”
Addressing a press conference today afternoon shortly after the Executive Committee meeting, FUFA President Hon. Magogo said, Rule 14:4-12 of the FUFA Competition Rules 2025 will now not apply for the 2025/26 Startimes Premier League season. “The suspension will allow stakeholders more time to understand the new UPL reforms through various forms of sensitisation.” Said FUFA boss.
He added, “We agreed that this season, will play a home and away where all points from the first round, second round, like the way we played in the previous season.”
FUFA believes, at the end of this season, “We shall have had enough time to explain, what the new format is. Such that the fans can understand, such that the sponsors can understand, what are the objectives and what it is.”
“This is a position we have had with the clubs and everybody who attended the meeting.” Said FUFA boss.
It has also been agreed that will proceed because the league is already going on with the matches that have been played, with the fixture and the results that have been played.
The presser was attended by the Uganda Premeir League Board Chairman Arinaitwe Rugyendo, Haji Kawulo from Lugazi FC (representing UPL Clubs), Mr. Deo Mutabaazi the Executive Committee Member, Haji Isa Magola Executive Committee Member and Mr. Edga Watson the CEO FUFA, among others.
Photo: Edgar Watson with Premier League Board chairperson, Mr. Arinaitwe Rugyendo after the Press conference
ENG. MAGOGO’S FULL SPEECH ON WHAT TRANSPIRED AND WHY:
When this season began, we had engaged series of consultative meetings with clubs to try and improve the League. I will re-emphasize that, as a Federation of Uganda Football Association, in order to achieve our vision, one of the objectives in the immediate future is to work on improving of our competitions across board.
It is a resolution that the Chief Executive Committee took, how do we improve on our competitions because competition is when football makes interface with fans and public and a number of reforms have been proposed, discussed, implemented, modified to where we are.
These reforms did not affect only the top League but all other competitions to the point that, they have actually introduced even the 6th division.
They are part of the bigger vision, they are part of a process to implement the technical masterplan.As you are all aware, the technical masterplan has three pillars, and pillar number three is about the professional League club football.
Where we believe that once players are identified, they must be developed through academy, and prepare for presentation in professional league clubs for those who don’t get opportunity to go out of the country and the fourth pillar being, the life after playing.
So as the Executive, we took a decission and created a League format that is supposed to be followed for 2025/26 season.
And our objectives of the format, clear headed, is to increase competition, reduce on the potential of match fixing of predetermination of the results, create commercial good and make the whole football environment an interesting experience.
When we set out, we engaged and like any new changes that comes into place, ofcourse there were people saying yes, some say no, others said, ok we do not agree, but we continue playing.
The league began and then interesting bit was that, our expectations was that it is going to be a new environment, for everybody to be excited right from the way we had walked of CHAN, walking into the league, walking into AFCON 2027.
Apparently that is not what the case has been. So we decided to engage the clubs, to engage the sponsors and those have been a series of meetings since morning.
The Executive has just ended, to try and look at a situation and it becomes our duty to inform the public, to inform the fans, to inform the general stakeholders of the game and the decision of the Executive Committee has to score three goals;
One, the objectives is to have fans in the stadium. But we have to learn from this period since the league began that the league has been talked about more than ever before. We have never had a season where people have engaged in the discussing of the league like at the beginning of this season.
Meaning that, in any selling, the most important stage is when introducing a product. People must first know about it. So as we speak today, even those who don’t follow the league, every body is talking about the league.
So there is some positivity out of it, anyway. There is a lot of energy that has been procured, that has been perceived in as far as the league is concerned.
So, being the leaders we are, being the federation that we are, we have not lost our moving target and that is to ensure that we have stadiums that are full of fans, and that will be a good environment for the sponsors, and like we have always had a unity for everybody to push in the same direction.
So upon those consultations we have done with the clubs, consultations we have done with the sponsors, we have agreed that the 2025/26 season rule 14:4, rule 14:12 of the regulation, is suspended and consequently shall not apply.
We have also agreed that the completion shall continue on a double round format.We have also agreed that at round one, of initially the split league format, continue as round one of the double format.
The fixtures and the results of the 120 matches of round one, will form the fixtures and results of the 120 matches of round one, of the double round format.
We have also agreed again with the clubs that this particular format is tried and tested on the lower league competition which we will choose so that at the end of the season we will see the advantages and disadvantages of having tried it in that lower division.
We believe that at the end of the season we will have an engagement and discussion so that by the new season, we are able to start on to a format that everybody has understood and may improved depending from whatever we have observed wherever we shall have tried it.
This is the position of the Executive Committee and it has been endorsed and agreed by the clubs such that we can continue.
So now, can we convert all the energy we have now into a direction that we put the fans in the stadium, we put the momentum because football is all about the fans, as a Federation, our debt is to listen, we have listened to our clubs, we have listened to our sponsors, we have listened to the general public, we have listened to the fans.
Lets explain, lets package such that every body is in the same direction and I am very certain that at the end if the day, we will achieve whatever we want to achieve and bring everybody on board.
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