By Swalley Kenyi
and Phillip Corry

SUPER League commercial and media rights owners GTV has extended its live coverage of the national competition countrywide. Last season, live broadcasts involved teams with a big fan base and were staged at Mandela national stadium, Namboole on the outskirts of Kampala.

The 2008/09 season starts tomorrow with Villa taking on champions KCC while Police will battle Kakungulu Cup holders Victors.

The pay television station’s general manager Dan Kagwe told a press conference yesterday that they had resolved to widen their scope to include Jinja, Mbarara and Lira in the eastern, western and northern parts of the country respectively.

“Football is an emotional game. We would like to drum support into the people so that we can attract maximum interest in the Super League this season," Kagwe noted.

But Kagwe, flanked by the firm’s sales and marketing manager Peter Mungoma, did not specify which matches upcountry will get live broadcasts.

GTV plans to televise 24 league matches, 12 of which will be live in during the 2008/09 season.
Kagwe said that they were finalising negotiations with a company to bankroll the national competition.

FUFA Competitions Committee secretary Moses Magogo had on Wednesday confirmed that together with GTV, they are currently in contact with 102 potential corporate sponsors.

He said that unlike the GTV deal where FUFA sold 100% media rights, they will apportion the advertising rights to different sponsors.

+ A number of domestic clubs are seeking to recruit talented players from the Lugogo-based Proline soccer academy.

“Top clubs in the local league want to “grab” my charges, they want to register them for the new soccer season,” the academy director Mujib Kasule, said.

“They should use the proper channels to get these players.”

Proline players Ali Feni is currently training with SC Villa, Johnson Bayiga and Kizito Otim are at Victors while Henry Baganza is with Express.

Proline intends to sue the mentioned players if they breach their contracts with the academy.

“If they sign contracts with the said clubs, we will sue them for breach of contract,” Kasule warned.