FUFA DRUM Gets 75M Sponsorship Package from Uganda Tourism Board

The Pearl of Africa – was made popular by Winston Churchill in his 1908 Book entitled  “My African Journey” about his trip to Uganda in 1907.

Winston Churchill became quite enthused about what he found in Uganda when he wrote “For magnificence, for variety of form and color, for profusion of brilliant life — bird, insect, reptile, beast — for vast scale — Uganda is truly “the Pearl of Africa.”

The FUFA Drum, a new tournament organized by the Federation carries the theme “celebrating Ancestry” with games spread across the entire country and in the long run promoting tourism and creating awareness about Uganda.

It is along those lines that Uganda Tourism Board(UTB) has partnered with FUFA as the tournament continues to grow in stature just in its maiden edition.

Uganda Tourism Board has on Friday committed 75 million shillings towards the tournament. While unveiling the package at FUFA House, UTB Deputy CEO, John Ssempebwa stated that as a board,they have been impressed with the objectives of the tournament and seen it’s impact on the people in the games played so far.

“Uganda is a very beautiful Country, we have good visiting sites, everything good in Africa is found in Uganda. The question is do Ugandans know their country?”

“So as Uganda Tourism Board, we believe the FUFA DRUM is an avenue for us to promote tourism with several people moving from one region to another. We saw how people from Acholi land moved to Kigezi to support their team, people from Karamoja made the trip to Ankole and this impressed us. We have therefore decided to commit 75 million shillings towards the tournament as a pilot project.” Mr John Ssempeebwa.

Ssempeebwa asserted that with such movements, people will get to know the different tourist sites, creatures and this will in the end promote tourism.

“ When people move from one place to another, there is an opportunity to go and find the unknown, visit the tourist attractions we have, so this will in the long run promote tourism”

The 75 million shillings will cater for five games in the month of June including the penultimate group matches  due this weekend.

The Selected games that Uganda Tourism Board will cover include;

FUFA President, Eng. Moses Magogo indicated that it is a privilege that the corporate world is seeing value in The FUFA Drum.

” It is a moment of excitement where we demonstrate that the game of football is not about goals only but can be a tool to promote tourism and boost the economy. When we set out a strategy to become the number one team in Africa, we got an idea to traverse Uganda to take the game to all parts of the country with an agenda of celebrating Ancestry.” He said before adding, “As FUFA we are happy about this partnership with Uganda Tourism Board and we believe this will in the end boost our economy.”

The President also went ahead to share his story of how The FUFA Drum has enabled him visit places he had never been to and indicated that with people moving from one region to another, tourism will be boosted.

“Personally, I had never been to Kapchwora but when I went to watch a game, I got the opportunity to visit the Sipi falls and I believe so many other people get same moments whenever they move from one part of the country to another. This helps to boost the tourism sector in the long run.” He stated.

He further revealed that there is already an idea to reward fans who will travel, take pictures at tourist sites and share them on social media.

“ We are still planning with Uganda Tourism Board to have a campaign on Social media with fans sharing pictures at tourist sites and the people with the best or most trending photos will be rewarded.” Revealed the FUFA President.

In a related development, FUFA FM 102.1 FM has staked a prize for the player who will score the 100th goal in The FUFA Drum, 88 goals have been scored so far. The tournament enters match day five this weekend with eight games on card across different.

 MAIN PHOTO: FUFA President Moses Magogo (M), Deputy CEO Uganda Tourism Board John Ssempeebwa (R) and the Chairman FUFA DRUM Rogers Byamukama (L) during the press conference at FUFA House on Friday 1st June.