How players were developed to fit in the Uganda Cranes team

As the kickoff of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations draws nigh, government and the local football governing body (Fufa) are working frantically to put up a strong Uganda Cranes team.

The local FA has left no stone unturned and so far, it has been reported that there are 20 possible new players being scouted from overseas that could be naturalized in order to play for the national team.

As we possibly all saw recently, seven players predominantly from West Africa were used during the Africa Cup of Nations and International Friendly matches that The Cranes played.

There have been mixed reactions from the Ugandan football fraternity towards this recent development. Those who support the idea look at it as a way of building a strong team, but those who are against the move think it might kill the local talent.

According to sources in Fufa, more than 200 players with some attachment to Uganda through descent or some family ties have been identified, especially in Europe. The federation is thus working with government to naturalize those who meet head coach Paul Put’s required qualities.

But let me ask: What happened to the majority of U-20 Hippos team players that reached the Caf U-20 Africa Cup of Nations in 2021? There have been quite a number of under-age Ugandan teams that have competed at the international level and done well since then, by the way.

While I do not entirely disagree with Fufa to naturalize, I do not think we should have gone en masse the way we have. First of all, building a team takes time. As a result of that, the one thing you can guarantee is that fitting all of them into a functional working system is bound to take some time.

It surely cannot be the same as having players who play in the same league, or you have seen emerge for some time in a set system, where it is easy to fit them all. Yet, has anyone also thought about how this naturalization process will affect local talent?

Which leads me to my main point of concern: How for time immemorial The Cranes teams of years gone by have been constructed. Remember, long before the recent Afcon tournaments in 2017, 2019 and 2025 that The Cranes have been to, they had also been at the 1962, 1968, 1974, 1976, and 1978 events.

Clearly, there was a reason this happened while using home grown talent. The transformation of Ugandan football back then from an inconsistent set-up into an impressive youth development programme was driven by structural and institutional reforms.

Following disappointing performances in the earlier Afcon tournaments that saw The Cranes knocked out of these tournaments early, the government and Fufa collaborated with the Germany government to send a top tactician who handled the national senior team, while at the same time managed the youth development programme.

**BURKHARD PAPE TO THE RESCUE **

Germany sent Pape to Uganda in 1968. Upon his arrival, the tactician worked on many things including the players training regime, welfare, food and nutrition, players personal health, motivation and mindset.

Pape also changed The Cranes playing style, replacing the kick and play with crisp passes and sliding tackles. The Cranes’ new playing style was one that won so many admirers from around the Ceacfa region.

It was not by accident that Uganda won three East Africa Senior Challenge Cups consecutively from 1968 to 1970. The one outstanding thing about Pape’s approach was that he worked closely with the local coaches: David Otti, Robert Kiberu and Peter Okee to build a strong national team.

He also set up the youth development programme, which he handed to coaches Kiberu and Ben Kurts Omoding (also known as Big Ben). The two coaches went to clubs and schools to scout for some of the best emerging talents.

Between 1969 and 1972, Uganda had such a formidable youth team project that dominated the East African region. A host of these youthful players shaped the backbone of The Cranes team.

That is why Uganda qualified for three successive Afcon tournaments in 1974, 1976, and 1978. In fact, some of the iconic names that emerged from that youth programme included Ashe Mukasa, Stanley Mubiru, Timothy Ayiekho, Moses Nsereko, Mike Kiganda, Abbey Nasur, Billy Kizito, Angelo Dotte, William Mindrea, and George Mukasa among others.

To understand how effective Pape had proved to be during his tenure in Uganda, even after he left in 1973, all the coaches that came after him benefited from his efforts. They were quite successful on the field as a result.

Yet, because of the many good youthful players that had been groomed, not all of them could be accommodated in The Cranes. The team was highly competitive. This led to the establishment of a second team to take in the remnants, which was called the Uganda Tigers.

Back in 1975, the Uganda Tigers team travelled to China for an international friendly, after then President Idi Amin secured an invitation from his counterpart, Mao Zedong. The same year, Uganda also secured an invitation to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for two friendly matches.

The bottom-line is that Uganda had enough players to represent the country at different fronts without much sweat. In the 1970s and 1980s, Uganda Cranes never failed to have a strong team in place because of the strong youth foundation.

Imagine, at the time, The Cranes set-up had nine quality goalkeepers: George Mukasa, Joseph Masajjage, Patrick Natan, Ali Sendegeya, Fred Nkolwa, Peter Wanyonyi, Baker Kijongolo, Hussein Matovu, and Paul Ssali.

The Uganda Cranes coaches were spoilt for choice. The team also used to have more than one player in each position. Today, such is a far cry. For years now, Uganda has laboured to have a quality right-back, while also struggling to have an efficient goalscorer, and a dynamic attacking midfielder for creativity.

To be honest, there is not a single position in the current national team that one can boast about for having an overflow of options. It is such a concern that by the time Dennis Onyango became Cranes’ number one custodian back in 2006, Uganda had so many other options from Posnet Omony, to Hannington Kalyesubula and Ibrahim Mugisha among others.

But as we saw in the two international friendly matches against the Democratic Republic of Congo earlier this month, The Cranes fielded two goalkeepers whose origin is Nigeria.

Ideally, Fufa should keep its trust in the youth teams. Provided the youth teams are also handled by top coaches. If this is done, there should be no reason why we should be naturalizing players who have little or no attachment to Uganda.

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