)
The Ugandan government has welcomed the prospect of collaborating with UEFA, especially on infrastructure projects, given the significant challenges that the country has faced in this area.
UEFA President Alexander Ceferin has expressed his willingness to work with the Ugandan government on social and football projects in the country.
Ceferin made history on Monday by embarking on his first-ever visit to Uganda to inspect several social projects implemented by Aliguma Foundation and supported by UEFA Foundation.
Speaking to the media, Ceferin expressed his eagerness to collaborate with the Ugandan government on a range of social and football projects.
“I have had a very great reception, and I already love it here,” Ceferin said, adding “I love Africa, it is my first time in Uganda. I will see more over the next 24 hours but I have a feeling I might come back.”
“UEFA as the biggest sports organisation in the world has to know that African players are important and we are ready to give back our knowledge and help them develop.”
“One thing is supporting the Aliguma Foundation and the other we want to look at is supporting football development here on the side of authorities and Ugandan people,” added the former president of the Football Association of Slovenia (NZS).
As part of his visit, Ceferin inspected several social projects run by the Aliguma Foundation and supported by UEFA Foundation that aim to improve the lives of locals in the Banda slums.
Aliguma Foundation were among the first recipients of the UEFA Foundation For Children grant as part of the 65 humanitarian projects around the world worth €4.9 MILLION in 2019, through its Sports For Resilience & Empowerment Project (SREP).
Through the find, the Aliguma Foundation has redeveloped the multi-purpose Acholi Quarters Playground, improving the structures and status of the Annual Banda Slums Soccer Tournament as well as using football to affect the lives of children who grow up in the area.
The Aliguma Foundation, run by sports journalist Ritah Aliguma has also bought a 15-acre piece of land in Kinuuma Village, Masindi District where it is constructing the Aliguma Foundation Sports & Empowerment Center (AFSEC) as well as the initiation of other new fundamental projects like the Ndi Mwana – The Cry of A Girl Child.
Speaking about the potential for collaboration, Ceferin emphasized that the partnership between the Aliguma Foundation and UEFA could open up many possibilities for the European governing body to make a significant impact on communities in Uganda.
He cited infrastructure and technical training projects as examples of initiatives that UEFA could extend to the country to promote football development and social transformation.
The Ugandan government has welcomed the prospect of collaborating with UEFA, especially on infrastructure projects, given the significant challenges that the country has faced in this area.
Uganda's State Minister for Sports, Peter Ogwang, acknowledged that the partnership with UEFA would present an opportunity to leverage the organization's expertise and resources to address these challenges.
“Personally, this is the start of something great for Ugandan sport because of the potential in terms of resources a body like UEFA holds, and I want to use the already existing relationships to help lobby for the sporting communities,” Ogwang said.
“UEFA is running projects in Banda here, but there are a lot of slums and under-privileged communities throughout Uganda. Therefore, my goal will be to lobby them to extend some of their resources to us.”
“For example, if we can collaborate on a project to build at least one artificial turf playground in the slums around Kampala, starting with the one at the Acholi Quarters.”
Infrastructure remains a challenge to our sport, but also I want to make sure that we tap into the technical and management resources that UEFA commands because we need that as well,” he continued.
Uganda currently lacks a CAF-accredited stadium, and various infrastructure projects have failed to materialise due to a lack of investment.
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)