The 2026/27 Uganda Premier League season begins with 18 clubs, 18 head coaches and only one man on the touchline who has previously completed a Ugandan top-flight campaign as champion.
That distinction belongs to Kitara coach Wasswa Bbosa, who guided Express to the 2020/21 title and now has an opportunity to repeat the achievement with one of the country’s most ambitious clubs.
It is a remarkable statistic considering the experience spread across the league. Abdallah Mubiru, Morley Byekwaso, Kefa Kisala, Abbey Kikomeko and Brian Ssenyondo have spent considerable time working in Ugandan football, but none has won the championship as a head coach.
Byekwaso managed KCCA, and later SC Villa, but the Jogoos’ 2023/24 championship was delivered under Serbian coach Dušan Stojanović. Mubiru has handled KCCA, Vipers and Police, while Kisala has accumulated experience across several clubs and with the national team.
Ssenyondo arrives at KCCA with a growing reputation following his work at UPDF, Mbarara City and Kitara, but he is also seeking his first league championship. Winning it would make him the first coach to deliver the title to KCCA without previously playing for the club.
Bbosa enters the campaign with knowledge none of his current rivals possesses. He understands the pressure of leading a title race, managing difficult periods and collecting results when performances are not convincing.
His success with Express came during a season disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The Red Eagles were declared champions after the league was halted with four matches remaining, having collected 58 points from 26 games, one more than second-placed URA.
Bbosa reinforced the quality of that team by guiding Express to the Cecafa Kagame Cup in Tanzania, but his league record since then presents a more complicated picture.
Express dismissed him midway through their 2021/22 title defence, with the club fifth on 29 points from 17 matches and 10 points behind leaders Vipers. He later joined Gaddafi, who finished 11th in 2022/23 despite starting the campaign with ambitions of reaching the top four.
His spell at Mbarara City was also brief and difficult, producing seven points from seven league matches before his departure.
It was at Kitara that Bbosa began rebuilding his league credentials. He took over in October 2024 after the Hoima club had collected only four points from six matches and sat 14th in the 16-team table.
Kitara recovered to finish seventh with 44 points before making further progress last season. They finished fourth on 56 points after recording 16 victories, eight draws and six defeats, while their 22 goals conceded represented one of the league’s strongest defensive returns.
Fourth place was Bbosa’s best league finish since winning the championship with Express, although Kitara still ended the season 11 points behind champions Vipers.
Their greater success came in the Uganda Cup, where Kitara defeated SC Villa 2-1 in the final to lift the trophy for the second time in three seasons. The challenge now is to turn that knockout success into the consistency required to win a 34-match league campaign.
Kitara must also balance their domestic ambitions with CAF Confederation Cup football, which will test the depth of Bbosa’s squad through travel, injuries and fixture congestion.
His championship experience offers an advantage, but it is no guarantee in a league where even winning the title no longer assures a coach of continuity.
Vipers provide the clearest example; Ivan Minnaert guided the club to the 2025/26 championship after a dominant campaign in which they lost once in 30 matches, collected 67 points and finished five points ahead of KCCA.
Despite that success, Vipers parted company with the Belgian and appointed Frenchman Denis Lavagne, who has won league titles with Coton Sport in Cameroon but has never managed in the UPL.
Minnaert’s departure removed the league’s most recent championship winner. Stojanović is no longer at Villa, while Roberto Oliveira and Alex Isabirye, who were involved in Vipers’ 2022/23 success at different stages, are also outside the competition.
Bbosa is consequently the last champion standing, but that status should not shield his recent league record from scrutiny. He has improved Kitara considerably, yet he must still demonstrate that he can build another side capable of sustaining a championship challenge.
For Kitara, the new season will determine whether Bbosa’s experience can close the 11-point gap to Vipers. For the coach, it offers an opportunity to prove that the Express title was not his only journey to the summit.
