Museveni fuels Uganda's World Cup dream

The World Cup excitement is on and the dream to qualify to compete for it and may be win it is alive again, after it made its way to Uganda for the second time on Monday.

And no one other than President Yoweri Museveni was the right person to refuel the dream after hosting the World Cup trophy at State House Entebbe hours after it touched down.

After narrowly missing qualification by a point in the last qualifying campaign to Egypt, the President now wants the Cranes to be part of the teams that will compete at the 2022 world show piece in Qatar.

"I congratulate the Uganda Cranes regarding the 2018 qualifiers and FUFA for the guidance to the national team, but keep up your efforts. We shall continue government support to improve Uganda's rankings until we reach the world cup finals in 2022," Museveni said.

"Uganda is a footballing country and we hope to at one time bring this cup and retain it in Uganda; this might take some time considering that we are competing with more advanced countries that use a scientific approach, although we almost qualified for 2018 using raw talent," Museveni noted.

He said the World Cup visit to Uganda was a rare opportunity as not all countries will have the opportunity of hosting it, which was symbolic and shows FIFA's confidence in recognising our international footballing ability.

"While we might have not qualified for Russia 2018 our team has the opportunity to see this celebrative trophy and at least ‘enjoy its aroma'.

 
"The Government values sports as a tool for entertainment, leisure, physical fitness and competition in order to market our country. We also appreciate football and other sports to enhance good health, team building and for providing opportunities," the president stated.

Coca Cola East and Central Africa Regional Manager Ahmed Rady said the trophy was in the country because of the passion Ugandans have for football.

"We are happy to host the trophy as it completes its journey to Russia for the June-July World Cup. It is here because of the passion of the Ugandan people for football because we see it every day; children have turned every corner in the street into a football pitch, and the programs we see in schools supporting football and so as Coca Cola we felt we should bring the trophy to a football loving nation," Rady stated.

He said Coca Cola was very passionate about sports and football in particular, citing the Copa Coca Cola championship that attracts massive participation across the globe.

"Today as you lift the trophy, it is a moment of pride for the whole nation and a moment of inspiration for every football player in Uganda and Africa so that they dream of lifting it one day," Rady remarked.

Sports minister Charles Bakkabulindi also sounded optimistic saying the trophy's second visit was an indicator that it is tracing where it will finally land in future.

Mary Karoro Okurut Minister in Charge of General Duties in the Office of the Prime Minister, in the Ugandan Cabinet said; "The mood in the country is palatable. There is a lot of excitement that you can almost touch it and this is a very big moment,"

Cabinent ministers led by Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda, Coca Cola, and state house staff and journalists were also present and took turns for photo moments with the trophy after the president had unveiled and hoisted it besides Rady.