Fri, 22 March Fixtures
CRO v SC Victoria University (CRO Stadium)
Entebbe v SC Villa (Wankulukuku stadium)
When the 39th Edition of the Uganda Football Cup kicked off at various stadia over a month ago, many pundits and fans had written off teams and the whole organization for Uganda’s oldest Sports tourney.
For starters, this year’s edition has no sponsor following the expiry of Bell Uganda’s sponsorship last year and the participating teams have to dig deep down their financial coffers to make ends meet.
Perhaps, to the surprise of many, the high organization of the participating teams, the level of players’ commitment has really paid dividends to raise the competitiveness of the tournament.
As the round of 32 climaxes this week, there have been a few surprise teams that have sneaked into the last 16 round. Division teams like Kamwokya, Bright Stars, Ngora Freda Carr have qualified at the expense of Premier teams like BUL F.C and Express F.C to re-write history books, much to the amusement of many.
In some of the tourney’s highlights, Defending Champions, URA bundled Express out with a 2-1 home victory at Mehta Stadium, Lugazi. Moses Feni and Owen Kasule netted URA’s goals while Bonny Baigaina scored Express’ consolation. Big league side, Ngora Fredda Carr outwitted Premier side, Bul with a 4-3 post match penalties’ triumph in Soroti after the normal play had ended in a 1 all draw. “Expect many more surprises as we get to the round of 16 draw on Wednesday 27th March”, says FUFA official, Decolas Kiiza.
A record 64 teams registered for this knock out competition that draws clubs from across the entire nation.
Round of 32 Results
Bright Stars 1-0 Hope F.C
Ntoda 1-3 Kira Young (Ntungamo)
Steel 1-4 Kamwokya (Masindi Municipal Stadium)
Jinja MC F.C 0(3)-0(4) Vipers F.C (Kakindu, Jinja)
Ngora Freda Car 1-0 Bul F.C (Ngora High School)
Soroti Garage 0-1 KCC (Soroti Municipal Municipal)
Simba F.C 5-0 Bombo United (Bombo Army Stadium)
URA 2-1 Express F.C (Mehta Stadium, Lugazi)