Magogo clarifies on World Cup tickets as players get medical insurance

FOOTBALL     FUFA

FUFA President Moses Magogo has hit back at his critics during the end of the year address on football activities held at FUFA House in Mengo on Monday.

The vibrant Football president began with the explanation of the World cup tickets that saw him handed a two-month suspension from any related football activity by FIFA over the 2014 resale of World Cup tickets.

Magogo told members of the press that as FUFA they had the right to resale the tickets since they purchased them from FIFA thus they belonged to the Association but not Ugandans as some people falsely deceived the public.

"Let nobody deceive you that FIFA gives out free world cup tickets to Ugandans or any other people. But like any other Federation, FUFA has the mandate to purchase these tickets and resale those to any football stakeholders and in this case not all Uganda football stakeholders are Ugandans," Magogo told members of the press.

He went on to emphasize that those that went around with forged documents and false accusations are enemies of the game and full of malice over what FUFA has achieved during his tenure as president.

"These allegations and distortions are intended to buy in the public to look disfranchised of the opportunity to get free tickets which isn't true because FIFA does not give out free tickets. It doesn't surprise me though. Those people are full of malice over what FUFA has achieved under my tenure," he added.

He said all the allegations that were labeled against him were all dropped by the FIFA adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee with whom he had entered a plea bargain during the two-month suspension.

In the same press conference, he announced medical insurance cover for 400 players registered and playing in the Uganda Premier League starting in 2020 provided by FUFA in partnership with the AAR insurance company.

The insurance is meant to cover the player's injuries suffered while playing, training and other normal illnesses. All that shall be required of a player is to access any AAR hospital and other hospitals with his card and will get free treatment.

"Starting in 2020, FUFA shall provide medical insurance to 400 registered players in the Uganda Premier League by AAR insurance. It is a fully paid medical insurance, it includes all forms of sickness as well as injuries suffered on the pitch," he communicated

 "There are many players who quit football careers because of injuries, others play with injuries throughout which limits their full potential. We therefore as FUFA looked at as important to provide medical insurance to our players," he added.

He concluded by applauding the national soccer teams for the success achieved throughout the year, notably Uganda Cranes who put up an excellent performance in AFCON where they went past the group stages though they got eliminated at the round of  16, winning the CECAFA senior challenge cup, CECAFA U-15 boys, CECAFA U-17 girls, and the COSAFA U-17 girls tournaments.