The Federation of Uganda Football Associations (Fufa) President Moses Magogo took time at the consultative meeting to explain how they intend to use Fifa funds and why the 2019/20 season was cancelled.
The meeting was convened by the federation and Uganda Premier League Board to address issues surrounding the 2020/21 season and club licensing issues.
Although some clubs snubbed the assembly, seven of the invited 14 clubs attended. William Nkemba of SC Villa, Aggrey Ashaba of KCCA FC, Vipers SC's Mulindwa George William, Kidega Francis of Police FC, URA FC's Kaduyu Moses, Amin Bbosa and Agatha Kayemba from Busoga United and Muwanguzi Hanningtone of MYDA FC were the attendees.
Magogo categorically stated the financial relief fund from Fifa was not going to be disbursed to the clubs.
“The information that we received funds for clubs is not true. The funds were indeed sent but were for the purposes of the use of usual activities at Fufa,” Magogo told the officials as was quoted by Sports Nation.
“Fifa was very clear, they said that they were sending the second and final instalment for this year, meaning there will not be any funding coming through until January 2021.
“Fifa has assured that there is an intervention they are going to make specifically to help the stakeholders. Whenever an opportunity arrives and this money comes, our priority is our members that compose Fufa and those are the clubs and special interest groups.
“The perception that we are not spending money on the Premier League is not true because we all know the players are insured, paying transport for teams that represent Uganda on the continent.”
On why they ended the league with five matches to go, Magogo explained how they arrived at the decision that has ruffled feathers from various quarters.
“We indeed held on before ending the league, we were getting communication from Caf and Fifa asking about the status of our league,” Magogo stated.
“We told them that we would wish to finish the league by playing all the rounds, and it reached a time that there were conflicting parameters that we had to solve so we called upon the board in an electronic meeting and discussed the way forward.
“What is also true is that there were clubs that approached us wanting the status of the league to be defined because of the challenges they were experiencing.
“Together with the board, we agreed on the decision to apply the regulations and terminate the 2019/20 season as you all received the communication. That was a well-researched communication which was decided in the interest of the game of football.”
Proline FC and Katwe United were among the first clubs to question Fufa's decision saying they were targeted for relegation but Magogo dismissed such claims.
“When we applied it, we were not targeting anyone, we looked at real situations," the federation chief added.
“We had a date of June 30 when we had to end the season and this date is pre-entered into the system of Fufa in terms of player transfers. This date cannot be changed once entered into the system. That was the first challenge.
“Informed by such reasons among others, we thought that it was important and it was our responsibility to take such a decision.”
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