Uganda Cranes goalkeeper Robert Odongkara has rejoined the Ethiopia Premier League once again since 2019.
The 32-year-old goalkeeper put pen to paper on a two-year deal at the Gurage zone based club, over 190 KM south of the capital city, Addis Ababa.
Odongkara, 32, has been a free agent since politely turning down an opportunity for a fresh employment contract at Guinea club Horoya.
Since his breakthrough moment in 2008 when Sports Club Villa signed him from Entebbe based Mupero Tanda, Odongkara’s stardom started to raise drastically.
Odongkara has since played for Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) before spending 7 seasons at Ethiopia’s record champions St George.
He left St George in 2018 and joined rivals Adama City which he played for a season before joining Horoya Athletic Club in Guinea.
For Uganda Cranes, he has earned 29 caps since 2010 having played in the CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup, two Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals in 2017 (Gabon) and 2019 (Egypt) as well as several AFCON and FIFA World Cup qualification campaigns.
For a long time, he was the understudy to former Uganda Cranes captain and legend Denis Onyango.
At Wolkite, he brings experience to the mid-table team coached by Degarege Yigzaw.
Christened as the “Workers”, Wolkite hosts their home matches at the Wolkite Stadium.
This club was founded in 2010 and it is co-owned by the public (51 % shares) and rest by the Wolkite city administration.
Besides football, the club also runs an active basketball team.
Another Uganda Cranes player Derrick Nsibambi recently signed at a Ethiopian top flight side, Sebeta Football Club.
ODONGKARA’S CAREER AT A GLANCE:
- Northern Elephants F.C (Kitgum) – 2002 – 2003
- Mupero Tanda F.C (Entebbe) – 2004 – 2006
- Club Sportive (Entebbe) – 2007
- Sports Club Villa (Kampala) – 2008 – 2010
- Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) – 2011
- St George (Ethiopia)- 2012 – 2018
- Adama City (Ethiopia) – 2018 – 2019
- AC Horoya (Guinea) – 2019 – 2021
- Wokite (Ethiopia) – February 2022 – Todate
This news and that of Derrick Nsibambi plus a host of most Uganda players just shows that they are not growing but just earning salaries. Farouk Miya has just been stagnating from high profile clubs to lesser entities. Nsibambi should have been moving to a bigger club in the Magreb region or even to Europe. And so on. I am just disappointed in Ugandan players.