Afcon exit: What Uganda Cranes need to learn from failure

Sport is a miserable business in which few characters are successful, and then only fleetingly. The Nigerians, for instance, didn’t even qualify for the World Cup but are one of the favourites to win the title in Morocco.

While some teams celebrate qualifying for the Afcon in this era, Uganda shouldn’t be among them but sadly, it is.

For a nation that reached the finals in 1978, winning the Afcon should be the ultimate goal by now but it has never happened and since then, only three qualifications have been secured.

In Morocco 2025, the target was to go as far as the quarter final after reaching the round of 16 in 2019 but shockingly, Uganda finished bottom of Group C that had neighbours Tanzania qualify to the next round.

There are several facets to their failure. But which is worse? That said, it is lessons that we must pick and help us improve, especially as we prepare to host the Afcon in 2027.

Are we good enough?

This is a basic question whose answer is simple. No. At this level, the tests are huge and unless you are good enough, it is not easy to succeed.

Besides Denis Onyango, which Uganda Cranes player can make an XI of any of the elite sides at the Afcon?

Almost all our players are playing in leagues that are not at the level of our opponents, including rivals Tanzania, who are in the last 16 at our expense.

Paul Put made it clear in the post-match press conference after the defeat to Nigeria that it is high time we have players playing at the top level every week.

“You could see the difference in individual quality and the team,” said Put. “Hopefully, we picked lessons and then try to use them in the next Afcon,” he added.

“But most important, we need to have players competing in top leagues every week.”

This clearly tells the lack of football education that most of our players lack and also explains why Put has been keen on looking for those of Ugandan origin but have grown up in proper football structures.

Jordan Obita, Tobby Sibbick, Elio Capradossi (didn’t feature), Alhassan Baba and even Ikpeazu Mubiru Uche, despite their limitations, have shown they are a little ahead of our players groomed from the Uganda Premier League.

How do we address the issue?

In Uganda, the concentration has always been around the national teams but this ought to change.

A national football team is just the epitome of the country’s game but rarely shows pure development, especially for a nation like Uganda that doesn’t have the luxury of players playing in the top leagues like Nigeria, Cameroon, Senegal and most of the West African nations.

It is high time the government, alongside Fufa and clubs, concentrated on building structures that develop players from a young age and not just wait for the national teams to be the breeding grounds.

First, the government should invest in infrastructure, particularly pitches in almost all corners of the nation.

And then, there should be deliberate efforts to grow the Premier League as this is the area that Tanzania has concentrated on the most and fruits are starting to show with several players in their league showcasing at Afcon, even in elite nations like Mali, whose first-choice goalkeeper, Djigu Diarra, features for Young Africans.

Khalid Aucho and Steven Mukwala (Uganda), Prince Dube (Zimbabwe), Kennedy Musonda (Zambia) and you could also pick Aziz Kii (Burkina Faso) who recently left for Morocco.

Of course, there are many other factors as well, including player motivation in terms of remuneration, the player selection, the line-ups on specific match days and the likes but above all, we are not yet in the elite class of African football giants that we believe we are.