The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has cleared FUFA to host International Matches at the newly refurbished Mandela National Stadium, Namboole.
The development comes at a time when Uganda Cranes is preparing to host Botswana and Algeria in the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers next month.
FUFA confirmed through their official media outlets indicating that the upcoming games will be held at Namboole.
“CAF has granted FUFA permission to host International Matches at Mandela National Stadium (Namboole). This therefore implies that Uganda Cranes will host the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifier matches against Botswana and Algeria in June at Namboole,” reads a statement from FUFA.
There has been anxiety from the football enthusiasts about Namboole given the snail pace of the renovation works at Namboole.
The facility has been under renovation for the last four years with Uganda Cranes forced to host home games in different countries.
The last time Uganda Cranes hosted a game at Mandela National Stadium was in 2019, a 2-0 win over Malawi thanks to goals from Fahad Bayo and Emmanuel Okwi.
Two weeks ago, FUFA staged a Uganda Premier League doubleheader on 1st May as part of test events for CAF to grant the green light.
Uganda Cranes will host Botswana on 7th June and Algeria on 10th June in back-to-back home games.
Well done but still many things missing out side the pitch
The fact that we focus on money and money thus why we grow slow and slower. football is one of the activities that can make a country grow faster economic wise but we give it less attention and we want milk from a cow we don’t feed, let’s focus on the visions when we start hosting international games coz this is a chance to brand Uganda and we shall shine in games.