In association football, the referee is the person responsible for enforcing the FIFA Laws of the Game during the course of a match. Uganda has 22 FIFA Referees and over 100 National referees while others are at regional level.
This Friday 2nd December, at Speke Resort Munyonyo, the Airtel FUFA Awards will have a new referee of the year. Last year the award was won by Mark Ssonko.
This year the list has a new kid on the block Ivan Kintu Bayige who will also represent Uganda at the 2nd edition of the Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations 2016 in Nigeria running from 13th-18th December.
Three FIFA referees have been nominated for the 2016 Airtel FUFA Awards. these are;
- Brian Nsubuga Miiro -FIFA Referee
- Mark Sonko- FIFA Assistant Referee
- Ivan Kintu Bayige- FIFA Beach Soccer Referee (Main Photo of this story on the website)
Voting Mechanics to determine winners in selected categories
Category 1; Airtel-FUFA Male Player of the Year:
The Short list is a summary as per nomination time of opinion of all the coaches of the 16 clubs playing in the Azam Uganda Premier League cast their votes in favour of players who they deemed excellent in 2016.
The player who was listed number 1 earned 3 points, number 2 earned 2 points and that listed number 3 earned 1 point. Five (5) players with the most votes were short listed and were announced at the launch of the FUFA Awards on 14th November 2016 Serena Hotel, Achwa Hall. The grand prize for the Male Player of the year is a an Alteza car.
Nominees for Airtel Male Player of the year 2016;
Denis Onyango Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa) and Uganda Cranes
Denis Onyango has been the mainstay between the posts for his club Mamelodi Sundowns in the South Africa Premier League and Uganda Cranes in 2016.
He made the shortlist after his excellent show during the 2017 AFCON qualification that helped Uganda Cranes return to the table of men on the African continent. He also won the ABSA Premiership title with his club and became the first Ugandan to win the CAF Champions League.
Faruku Miya – Standard Liege (Belgium), Uganda Cranes
He is the reigning Airtel FUFA Male player of the year. Miya captained Uganda Cranes at the CHAN Finals in Rwanda where netted one goal before leaving Vipers SC for Standard Liege in Belgium.
Many football fans will always remember Faruku Miya for scoring a memorable goal against Comoros at Nambole stadium when Uganda Cranes secured a 1-0 win to qualify for the AFCON finals for the first time in 38 years. Since breaking into the Cranes team, the 20 year old has been enjoying starting berths under head coach Milutin Sredojevic.
Joseph Ochaya KCCA FC, Uganda Cranes
One of Uganda’s most exciting left fullbacks to watch in action both at club and national team level.
Ochaya is already a winner of the most prized asset-a Subaru Forester-staked by the organisers of the Azam Uganda Premier League awards.
Can lady luck fall on him again?
His stats for 2016 will surely give both Onyango and Miya moments of scare for this top award. He scored 7 league goals last season, 3 in the Uganda cup and 4 in the current Azam Uganda Premier League season.
Muhammad Shaban- Onduparaka FC, Uganda Cranes
The lanky striker guided his club to automatic qualification to the Azam Uganda Premier League with 13 goals. He also finished top scorer of the Uganda cup with 7 goals when his club fell to Vipers on the Final at Nakivubo stadium. He has scored 6 goals already this season in the league. 2016 will always be a historic year or Shaban as he made his international debut for Cranes against Zambia at Namboole stadium and was an unused substitute when Cranes beat Congo Brazzaville 1-0.
Erisa Sekisambu – Vipers SC, Uganda Cranes
The stylish striker netted seven goals including a beauty in the Uganda cup final against Onduparaka.
He was one of the shining stars at the 2016 CHAN Finals in Rwanda as he netted in the 2-2 draw with Mali.
Ssekisambu who has already scored 4 goals this season, hit the back of the net in the league 16 times last season.
Category 2: FUFA Female player of the year:
The Short list is a summary of opinion of 5 Experts of the Women Football players who cast their votes in favour of players who they deemed excellent in the 2015/2016 FUFA Women Elite League season. The voting Experts include;
- Majida Nantanda Head Coach of the Senior Women National Team
- Paul Ssali Pioneer of Women Football in Uganda
- Agnes Mugena Chairperson FUFA Women Committee
- Hadijah Namuyanja FUFA Women Football Officer
- Ayub Khalifah FUFA Delegate from Women Football and Coach Kawempe Muslim SS
The player who was listed number 1 earned 4 points, number 2 earned 3 points and that listed number 3 earned 2 point2 ans at number 4 earned 1 point. Four (4) players with the most votes were short listed and were announced at the launch of the FUFA Awards on 14th November 2016 at Serena Hotel. The grand prize for the Female Player of the year is a car.
Ruth Aturo Kawempe Muslim SSS FC, and Crested Cranes
Aturo was the number one choice between the posts for Crested Cranes during the CECAFA Women championship at the FUFA Technical Centre.
She kept two clean sheets during the tournament in 4 matches but was also very instrumental when she kept 8 clean sheets during the FUFA Women Elite League in 16 matches as Kawempe defended the league last season.
In the FUFA Independence cup, Aturo kept clean sheets in all the three games Kawempe played in the tournament that they won. She kept 13 clean sheets in 23 matches.
Hasifah Nassuuna Kawempe Muslim SSS FC, and Crested Cranes
Nasuuna was voted the MVP of the 2015/2016 FUFA Women Elite League (FWEL) for the second year running.
Nassuna created a deadly combination with Sandra Nabweteme for their 41 goals tally in the regular season of the FWEL. She scored 18 in the regular season and one in the play offs (19 in the FWEL 2015/2016 season) and made 16 assists to guide Kawempe to league glory.
Nassuuna also won the National Post Primary Schools Girls football title with Kawempe in Masindi scoring 13 goals in 9 matches. However in the qualifiers of the National Post Primary Schools Girls football she scored 15 goals in 7 matches.
She also scored 8 goals in 6 games in the Buganda Schools girls’ title. She netted 2 goals as Kawempe lifted the FUFA Women Independence cup. She netted 6 goals in 5 games for Crested Cranes during CECAFA Women in Jinja. She was also on target 3 times in the Mama Becca Cup.
Nassuna who has already score two goals in the league this season (FWEL 2016/2017) also netted three times for Kawempe in the UMEA cup in Masaka.
In total, the period captured for the awards in this category, Nassuuna scored 71 goals.
Christine Nambirigge – She Corporate, and Crested Cranes
Popularly known as ‘Tina’ among the football fraternity, Nambirigge is a natural defender but she is sometimes deployed as a striker by her coaches. She plays for She Corporates who finished runners up in the FWEL 2015/2016 season. She netted 4 goals and made 11 assists in the FWEL 2015/2016 season..
Her club She Corporates won the FUFA Women Day Mama Becca Cup 2016 where she scored 3 goals.
In the CECAFA women Championship, Tina who plays Beach soccer with She Corporates, scored two goals.
Sandra Nabweteme –South West Oklahoma State University, Crested Cranes
She is the current holder of the FUFA Female player of the year. She currently plays in the US when she helped her club SWOSU to the playoffs. She picked up two awards for best new comer and scored 22 goals with 9 assists in the Greater American Conference.
She netted 23 goals in the 2015/2016 FUFA Women League and 2 in the 2016 FUFA Women Day Mama Becca Cup. She was captain when Kawempe Muslim Secondary School won their second successive league title.
The key mechanism of voting is to Type FUFA -Space- Code – and send to – 8888.
Male player of the Year 2016-Nominees:
Faruku Miya – 10
Denis Onyango – 20
Joseph Ochaya – 30
Muhammed Shaban – 40
Erisa Ssekisambu – 50
Female player of the year 2016-Nominees:
Sandra Nabweteeme -60
Hasifa Nassuna – 70
Christine Nambirigge – 80
Ruth Aturo – 90
For the category of ‘Fans Ugandan Favourite player of the year’
Type….
Fansug – clubname, name of the player, then send to 8888
For the catergory of Fans’ favourite player in leagues outside Uganda.
Type…..
FANS – Clubname – name of player – then send to – 8888
The 2016 FUFA Awards will head back to the venue that left our guests yearning for more on the night when we crowned the best football stars of 2015.
The FUFA Awards organizing Committee would like to announce that Speke Resort Munyonyo is the venue that will host the 2016 FUFA Awards night on 2nd December 2016.
There are 11 categories for the 2016 FUFA Awards with the best female and male footballers on the night walking away with a Grand prize of a car each.
