Football has been looked at by many at the tail end of the process but what is neglected often is the stages through which success is attained.
The Uganda Hippos on Saturday qualified to the quarterfinals of the Africa U20 Cup of Nations on their first time of asking.
The efforts put behind this team with majority of the players products of the FUFA Junior’s League is what needs to be appreciated and FUFA President in this article notes how the game is a process not an event.
Below is the excerpt
Previously Uganda National Football Teams qualification to major continental finals was spaced by decades and only stopped at group stages in the final tournament save 1999
Previous qualifications to note were;
1.1978 (AFCON)
- 1991 (U23 All Africa games)
- 1999 (U23 All Africa games)
- 2011 (U23 All Africa games)
- CHANs 2011, 2014, 2016, 2018
FAST FORWARD
Did you notice it is only Uganda in the whole of Africa that has qualified teams to play in the following major continental tournaments in a space of 2 years?
1.AFCON 2019 (Egypt) finished in knock out stages. Uganda’s second-best Afcon ever after the famous 1978
2. CHAN 2021 (Cameroon) group stages
3. Afcon U20 2021 (Mauritania) on-going
4. Afcon U17 2021 (Morocco) starting in March 2021
5. FIFA WOMEN World Cup U17 qualifiers (stopped because of Corona) was stopped when Uganda was in the last 6 teams in Africa only to beat only Cameroon and qualify to maiden world cup.
Qualification for major tournaments has become a minimum performance indicator. This is not an accident but a result of hard work by the various football people
We must now engage the next gear thus performance and results at these major tournaments
Domestic Competitions are our next target
Football is a process not an event
It’s Our Game, It’s Our Country
