FUFA secures residential base for Cranes players

Nov 16, 2020

Even players who are not on official duty will be housed at the apartments when the need arises

Federation of Uganda Football Association (FUFA) on Monday revealed it had acquired a permanent residential place for the national football team the Uganda Cranes in Kisaasi, a Kampala suburb.

FUFA Chief Executive Officer Edgar Watson in an interview with New Vision explained that they had decided to acquire the three-storey apartments to house Uganda's national team given the fact that they had a packed international schedule and that the acquisition was only prudent.

"We needed a place that was decent and had privacy. It was FUFA's executive decision that we get a place that can be controlled fully and we shared this with the players and they fully bought into the idea," Watson noted.

He said that FUFA has the Njeru Technical Centre which he noted had greatly reduced on the costs that have been accumulating as a result of accommodation bills in hotels but that it was far.

"We shall consider having all the other national teams like the under 17, under 20 and the Cranes in particular accommodated here in Kampala since the apartment block can house all the players and we are in the process of constructing a modern gym, swimming pool and a conference hall that will accommodate over 250 people," Watson added.

Asked why they had chosen the Kisaasi and not private hotels, Watson noted that the biggest challenge FUFA faced was the issue of cash flow.

"We had gotten into many issues with hotels especially related to payments. Hotels needed us to pay cash sometimes and in some cases, we didn't have money at hand and this affected the morale of the players," Watson noted.  He also noted that they had a situation where hotels would call them and tell them the players were becoming unruly and noisy.

He noted that with the facility under the control of FUFA, they will be able to check on the issue of diet for the players.

Watson noted that even players who are not on official duty will be housed at the apartments when the need arises.

There were reports last week that FUFA had taken players to stay at a construction site but Watson denied this claim noting that, the residential apartment block is complete. He clarified that the building had two compartments and that the residential apartment was fully complete and furnished.

"There are some people who were not happy with the idea of having Uganda Cranes in a FUFA controlled place, while some who had lost out on the business opportunity were making all sorts of allegations.

This is a FUFA project. It is work in progress, the residential part is fully complete and we have another block that is being set up and by the time we are done with it, it will be fully tailored to suit the players' interest," Watson stated.

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