It should have been one of Uganda’s showpiece footballing occasions. The Kampala derby between Villa and Express is also a battle between the country’s two best clubs. But last week’s match, played in front of largely empty terraces at the 45,000-capacity Mandela national stadium, raised little excitement and fewer chances as the teams played out a drab goalless draw. FUFA President Denis Obua and three former national team and club coaches sat down to analyse Ugandan football and to highlight areas where FIFA’s Goal project could make a difference.

Denis Obua: The Ugandan Goal project will change the face of football in our country as itadapts to modern management methods. Our federation will no longer have toworry about rental overheads, and the money we save as a result will be channelledinto youth development programmes, the true engine of the game.

Guenter Zittel (Director of the German-Ugandan Football Development Project): We all very excited about it and truly hope so. In the past, the game in Uganda has suffered from a general lack of organisation. Nobody has been able to administer youth football. The only competitions held are those sponsored by private companies, schools and parish churches.

Tom Lwanga (Former Uganda player): Players are selected to the national team from just one league – it’s very narrow. We need to place more emphasis on our national U-23, U-20 and U-17 teams. And because teams are not developed according to their age group, good young players will compete at several levels and play a huge amount of games.

Asumani Lubowa (Former Uganda national team coach): The emphasis should be on teaching coaches how to prepare youth teams – not just in Kampala but all over the country. There’s so much undiscovered talent out there.

Technique
GZ: Motioning at the physical, direct battle taking place in front him between the derby rivals …As you can see, there’s a general lack of tactical ability and technique at this level. The players learn their trade on the street. There’s no movement off the ball, forwards run forward looking for a long ball. There’s no overlapping or switching play. You can see more technical skill at the private youth tournaments. Seriously.

TL: Yes, and because there is no build-up play, every ball is a battle and leads to excessive physical exertion and ultimately injury. The Ugandan league is overloaded with fixtures. They play all the year round but, unlike players in Europe, they don’t have physiotherapy, special foodstuffs, or other rehabilitation methods to ease the pain. One of the best players in recent years played on painkillers for four years and now he’s finished. Few footballers are older than 28 in Uganda because they are physically wrecked by that age, even though, generally speaking, Ugandans are incredibly athletic.

B> AL: That’s right. When I was coach of Uganda, the captain of the team, who had been suffering with a persistent groin strain for two years, was told to perform a certain exercise by a German physio and found the pain went away. The treatment was commonplace in Europe but unheard of here.

TL: Most teams in the league have no insurance policy so when players are injured they get no wages. It is a serious problem in Africa that could be helped enormously through education and better development programmes.

AL: Uganda is definitely in need of a foreign coach. The present coach (Paul Hasule) of the team is also the manager of a major club side (Police). GZ: African players don’t go abroad. You just have to look at the big African leagues. I think there are four Ugandans playing in foreign leagues – one in Ireland, the United States and two in Argentina’s second division.

East versus West Africa
AL: East African nations have always failed to reach the African Cup of Nations (Uganda have not participated since 1978), to which many European clubs send scouts. The West African nations certainly know the importance of qualifying for it. Success has a knock-on effect. One nation does well and it leads to their neighbours wanting to emulate them. That’s what has happened in West Africa. Our players are of the same standard but they had success first, and their players went to play for big teams in Europe. They consolidated their superior position as they learnt new tricks and acquired better, more professional habits there. Also, success and exposure meant the countries got behind football with the government putting money into the game to promote it.

TL: Yes, look at George Weah. He took about 11 more Liberian players to Europe, and it made them better players. East Africa has suffered and we’re now in a Catch-22 position. Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania have exported few players and nobody looks at us. Congo’s Lomano Lua Lua, who plays for Newcastle United, is the only footballer to have made a name for himself from this region. It’ll be interesting to see what effect it has on the game in the country. South Africa is a different case as they have money and a professional league.

GZ: As a consequence Ugandan people are not investing in the game. Fans don’t return if they lose. Look about you (he gestures to the empty stadium) three Ugandan teams were knocked out of the African Champions League competition in midweek. Cricket is rapidly growing in popularity along with other sports.

TL: There are few footballing role models here for the kids to emulate. The players the kids want to be are normally from the English Premier League (matches are screened by satellite every weekend) like David Beckham and Michael Owen. The local league is not televised and the English matches are played at the same time as local games. Most people don’t know the names of our own players and don’t come to matches. Even the back pages of local newspapers are full of news about the foreign leagues and not reports of our own matches. It is stealing the culture away from us.

AL: This makes me very sad. It’s not a healthy situation.

DO: I agree it is something that is taking place not only in Uganda or Africa but in the developing football nations around the world. But FUFA is stabilising and I expect all of us to work together now for the future of football here. I cannot run Ugandan football alone, it is run by all of us.