Jackson Mayanja is optimistic not only that Uganda will win the CECAFA U-20 tourney, but also the continental version, so as to qualify for the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Indonesia.

This will be the 23rd edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup.

Mayanja said after a friendly match against KCCA at Lugogo that the assignment is worthwhile and thanked FUFA for thinking about him to add his vast football knowledge into the current Ugandan football setup.

He is preparing the Hippos team to compete in the CECAFA 2022 zonal qualifiers slated for Sudan between October 28 and November 11.

"I am happy for FUFA to think about me to add a brick into the development of football in the country because of the vast football in me. My target is not only to participate in the CECAFA zonal qualifiers but to win and proceed to the Africa Championships, then to the U-20 World Cup,” Mayanja said.

“I want to build a team better than the one we produced with the late Charles Namakola that elevated stars like Geoffrey Masa, Noah Kasule Babadi, Godfrey Walusimbi and many others,” Mayanja added.

“I have seen the boys and they are promising for the future. I want them to play modern football. I want a new formation of play that they have now mastered and the tick tack football that involves going forward to attack technically, physically and tactically,” he said after his team beat KCCA FC 2-1.

Mayanja replaces Moley Byekwaso who guided the team to the continental finals in Mauritanian in 2021 where they lost 2-0 to Ghana in the final, a feat he thinks he can surpass.