Real Madrid Foundation empowers Ugandan pupils through football and life skills

Excitement filled the air as pupils from Naguru Katale Primary School in Nakawa Divison completed a three-day football training program organized by the Real Madrid Foundation on Thursday.

This initiative, supported by the Real Madrid Foundation and the Xcalibur Foundation and funded by I&M Bank, aims to enhance the sports and social education of vulnerable children in Uganda.

The Real Madrid Foundation ensures the effective implementation of its training methodology by providing guidance and monitoring for the coaches involved in the program.

Coach Alejandro Fernandez from the Real Madrid Foundation, along with local coaches Samuel Tumusiime and Jordan Donavan Acayi, led the engaging training sessions. During these sessions, the children learned seven fundamental values: respect, autonomy, motivation, equality, self-esteem, team spirit, and health.

This collaboration aims to promote holistic development, social inclusion, and ethical values through sports. The initiative’s primary goal is the holistic development of children through sport, contributing to improved physical and mental well-being, as well as fostering values such as solidarity, respect, and teamwork.

Coach Samuel Tumusiime engages children of Naguru Katale during a training session at the school, May 29, 2025. Photo by Michael Nsubuga

Addressing the press after the last session, I&M Bank CEO Robin Bairstow said they were happy and excited to partner with such respected organisations and one of the most prestigious clubs in world football to bring sport to the children and make it available for them, and coach coaches, especially on the seven values that form the basis for the training.

“The training is combined with menstrual health, which goes beyond the school into the home so that we can get girls in school too. We have joined forces with the Xcalibur and Real Madrid foundations, provided the funding gave our football kit, and we are looking at other areas of mutual cooperation with the school,” Bairstow said.

Angella Kamalinda Nakato, the projects officer for the Xcalibur Foundation, said with the bank’s funding they have been able to expand the project to 100 children this year and are looking to expand the project outside Kampala.

“The children have been able to grow through the knowledge they receive from the coaches because they learn a lot of things on the field, but we also visit their homesteads and teach them different things like personal hygiene and menstrual hygiene; we teach them how to be confident,” Kamalinda noted.

“We now have children who are confident; we have grown their esteem and have also helped them gain proper hygiene lessons. We have reproductive health sessions and menstrual hygiene sessions.

“We have shown our sponsors, I&M Bank, what we do here, and they are going to help us expand this project in other areas of the country, like in Jinja and/or Arua,” she stated.

Coach Tumusiime said the program offers an opportunity for children to play and express themselves and that they gain the technique as they play.