The new Uganda Premier League format explained

FUFA recently had a consultative meeting with the Uganda Premier League clubs to forge ways of improving the competition both on and off the pitch.

In this meeting, the clubs were told that the FUFA Executive Committee had an idea of creating a new playing format for the League, which would commence with immediate effect, which is the 2025/26 season.

Today, FUFA, through its CEO Edgar Watson, sent a circular to clubs, explaining the new changes that are not only limited to the fixtures but also include areas such as data, player registration and financial benefits among others.

In this Article, Kawowo Sports explains the new changes as follows;

THE LEAGUE FORMAT

• The 1st Division League (Uganda Premier League) shall comprise a maximum of 16 Teams. This is the same number of teams that took part in the 2024/25 season.
• The 1st Division League shall be played over a season in three (3) rounds

Round One

• All the teams shall play a one-leg league format to determine the ranking of positions.
• There shall be a draw conducted to determine which teams play against the others at home and away in Round 1
• The top 8 ranked teams at the end of Round 1 shall qualify for Group 1 at Round 2.
• The bottom 8 teams at the end of Round 1 shall qualify for Group 2 at Round 2.

Round Two

• Group 1 (8 Teams) and Group 2 (8 Teams) shall play a full league format on a basis of home and away.
• The top 6 ranked teams of Group 1 shall qualify for Round 3 to play in Group 3 while the bottom 2 teams shall end the season in positions 7 and 8 of the season respectively.
• The bottom 6 ranked teams of Group 2 shall qualify for Round 3 to play in Group 4 while the top 2 ranked teams shall end the season in positions 9 and 10 of the season
  respectively.

Round Three

All the teams in Group 3 shall play a one-leg league format to determine the ranking of positions. For each pair of matches, the team that played at home in Round 1 shall now
play away while the team that played away in Round 1 shall now play at home for parity.

• The ranking of teams at the end of Round 3 for Group 3 shall take positions 1-6 of the competition for the season.
• All the teams in Group 4 shall play a one-leg league format to determine the ranking of
  positions.
• The ranking of teams at the end of Round 3 for Group 4 shall take positions 11 downwards of the competition for the season.

Champions and Relegation

• The team ranked top of Group 3 at the end of Round 3 shall be declared the Champions of the Season.
• The top 3 teams ranked 11, 12 and 13 at the end of Round 3 shall remain sportingly eligible to be licensed for the 2026/7 Season for the 1st Division League.
• The team ranked 14th at the end of Round 3 shall play on a home and away basis against the 3rd-ranked team from the 2025/6 2nd Division League. The team that wins this fixture over the two (2) legs shall sportingly be eligible to be licensed for the 2026/7 Season for the 1st Division League while the team that loses this fixture over the two (2) legs shall sportingly be eligible to be licensed for the 2026/7 Season for the 2nd Division League. In other words, there will be a promotional/relegation playoff.

PLAYERS REGISTRATION FOR UGANDA PREMIER LEAGUE

• Only players whose contracts with their respective clubs have two (2) or more years remaining shall be eligible to be licensed for the 2025/6 1st Division League. The exception to this provision shall only be for the player whose 31st birthday shall happen during the 2025/6 Season.
• All the other provisions of player registration shall remain in force until changed.

DATA

• It will be obligatory for each club in the Uganda Premier League to share sporting and business data after every specified period. According to FUFA, Corrective Measures shall be applied for failure to comply with this provision and FUFA may develop web-based applications to collect this data.

Sporting Data

• At the end of each Uganda Premier League match, each club shall be required to submit FORM (F601) that shall specify the sporting data of the match as recorded by the club. This submission shall not be more than 48 hours after the match.
• Each club playing in the 1st division league shall be required to use the Catapult Technology during the match. The referee shall require that the vests are utilised. In
  event of failure, the referee will report on the matter.

Business Data

• At the end of each 1st division league match, each club shall be required to submit FORM (F605) that shall specify the business data of the match as recorded by the club.

The business data, among others, shall include the Match Day Attendances, Revenues
Generated from Match Day Attendances. This submission shall not be more than 48 hours after the match.

FIXTURES

• Uganda Premier League matches shall be played as single-header or double-header fixtures.
• Double Header Fixture shall mean when matches of 2 UPL Clubs are hosted in one venue with 2-3 hours between the kick-off times of both matches.
• The UPL will determine which matches may be played as doubleheaders.
• The UPL may change the venue of a match in order to organise a Double-Header.
• UPL has exclusive decisions on which fixtures shall be single-headers or double-headers.
• Matches for the doubleheader will be determined and communicated with the release of the fixture. UPL may, within a period of 14 days, combine single-header fixtures into
  Double Header Fixtures and vice versa.

FINANCIAL REGULATIONS

Prize Monies

• FUFA shall provide 500m UGX as Prize Monies for the 1st Division League shared as follows:

• The 2,000,000 UGX shall be for the club that wins the play-off for relegation and promotion.

Gate Collections

• Gross takings of the match shall be declared. Any failure to comply or falsification of the information submitted shall cause application of corrective measures by the FUFA Judicial Commission.
• There shall be a fixed amount to be spent as operations costs for a very UPL match.
• For the single header fixtures, the home club shall apply to UPL for amount to be considered for the operations costs. UPL will confirm or amend the proposed amount and will communicate the final amount to be considered for operations costs.
• For the double header fixtures, UPL shall determine and issue the amount to be considered for the operations costs.
• When the mandatory taxes and operations costs have been deducted, the remaining amount shall be referred to as the Sharable Revenue.

For single header fixtures, the shareable revenues shall be as follows:

• Home Team – 85%
• UPL – 5%
• FUFA – 5%
• Winner – 5%

For double header fixtures, the shared revenues shall be as follows:

• Home Team-1 – 35%
• Home Team-2 – 35%
• Away Team-1 – 5%
• Away Team-2 – 5%
• UPL – 5%
• FUFA – 5%
• Winner-1 – 5%
• Winner-2 – 5%

In case of a draw, the winner percentage is reverted to the home team.