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Siggy Aine

The Uganda national football team, the Cranes seem to be going through a tough time as per the recent and ongoing fracas concerning the team.

A number of events that every Ugandan football fan dreads seeing have been ongoing ever since the Cranes failed to secure a ticket to the continent’s biggest sporting tournament, the AFCON.

A number of key players such as Dennis Onyango the team skipper, Hassan Wasswa Mawanda and Mike Azira have all called time on their national duties as more are expected to hang up their boots. This came about after FUFA president Moses Magogo lambasted the players for playing ‘shitty football’ hence failing to qualify for next year’s AFCON edition.

It was expected that the Cranes would bury their disappointment in the AFCON qualifiers and focus on the 2022 Qatar world cup qualifiers but it seems like the Crane’s woes are far from over.

Over the weekend FIFA and CAF officials toured St Mary’s stadium ahead of the games slated for June and it seems the stadium did not meet the FIFA standards.

Officials inspecting St. Mary’s stadium Kitende ( Photo: Vipers SC media)

With Namboole banned by FIFA and Nakivubo stadium under construction, the Vipers stadium has been the only available stadium hosting all international matches both on club and country level.

This leaves Uganda with no official verified stadium to host home matches against neighbors Kenya, Rwanda and the West African country Mali.

And minister of state for sports Hanson Obua has come out to say that the Cranes might have to play the home matches from a neighboring country if the ban on Mandela national stadium is not lifted.

He revealed all this while appearing before the Parliamentary panel on sports where he said that either FIFA had to lift the ban on Namboole stadium or approve St Mary’s stadium otherwise the country would host matches abroad.

Quizzed on why the national stadium hasn’t yet been renovated after the minister of sports and education first lady Janet Kataaha Museveni ordering for it to be renovated, the minister said that the the stadium fell under this year’s unfunded projects since it fell under the 96 billion cap.