The Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA) has revealed that the Uganda Cranes game against Algeria won’t be played at Namboole Stadium as it had been promised by State Minister Of Sports, Hon Ogwang.
This was revealed by the FUFA boss, Eng. Moses Magogo at the weekly press briefing;
“Today, Tuesday 25th April 2023 being the deadline set by CAF for all federations to submit names of venues to be used for the qualifiers due in June, the FUFA Executive has taken a decision to host the Uganda Cranes next AFCON 2023 home fixture against Algeria in Cameroon,” said Magogo before adding that;
“We had been given the assurance by the Hon. Minister of Sports that Mandela National Stadium would be ready but this is not the case. As the FUFA Executive Committee we have taken the decision that our next game against Algeria will be hosted in Cameroon.
“No federation(s) would wish to host away from home given the environment, costs, and disadvantages, but we have no choice because there is no significant progress at Namboole.”
Below is FUFA’s full statement;
It should be noted that recently the sports Minister Hon Peter Ogwang said that by June, Namboole Stadium will be ready to host the national games.
“The game against Algeria will be played here in Namboole Stadium on 12th June. That is my promise to Ugandans,” tweeted the minister but this seems to have failed since the game will now be played in Cameroon.
Hon. Peter Ogwang, Minister of State for Sports, later said that funding delays have made it more difficult to repair and renovate Namboole’s Mandela National Stadium to international standards.
Ogwang claimed that despite Parliament’s approval of the budget for the 2021–2022 fiscal year, the funds weren’t released until much later.
“The stadium received finances in July 2022,” Ogwang said. “Parliament approved Shs31 billion and a supplementary financing of Shs62 billion in the 2021/2022 financial year for the building of a perimeter wall, repair, and upgrade.
Ogwang claimed that as a result, the UPDF Engineering Brigade had only finished 32% of the civil works.