The Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA) is making concerted efforts to ensure that football in Uganda develops in leaps and bounds. With a clear vision to become Africa’s leading footballing nation both on and off the pitch, FUFA has introduced tailor-made structures to achieve this ambitious goal.
In 2023, FUFA launched the Technical Master Plan (TMP), a comprehensive blueprint covering every stage of a footballer’s life — from grassroots to elite and professional levels, and even life after football.
One of the cornerstones of the TMP is the Talent Identification Framework, which focuses on charting a structured development pathway for young players aiming to break into elite football.
This initiative forms part of FUFA’s integration of FIFA’s Talent Development Schemes (TDS), a high-performance global football development programme that emerged from FIFA’s 2020 analysis of the global football talent ecosystem. The framework is designed to create an elite youth football environment under the theme “Giving Every Talent a Chance”.
FIFA, through its High-Performance Unit under the leadership of Arsène Wenger, Chief of Global Football Development, continues to support the initiative with educational resources, expert consultancy, and financial backing.
Following the launch of the framework, FUFA trained 24 scouts from its eight administrative regions in October last year. Since then, implementation has begun in earnest, starting with the North East region in Soroti City, followed by the Northern Region in Lira City, and most recently, the Eastern Region at Ssaza Grounds in Iganga Town.
To date, a total of 641 young players have participated in the talent identification exercise across these three regions. With guidance from the trained scouts, players undergo competitive trials, after which those who demonstrate promise are selected and categorised by age and gender.
The successful players are then entered into an online portal and considered for enrolment into Regional Centres of Football Excellence, which were established last year. At these centres, they undergo further evaluation before the most outstanding talents are selected for the National Football Academy.
Regional Player Breakdown:
North East Region
Total Players Assessed: 239
Selected:
Boys:
U12: 22
U13–U14: 27
U15+: 18
Girls:
U14: 3
Northern Region
Total Players Assessed: 165
Selected:
Boys:
U12: 28
U13–U14: 16
U15+: 25
Girls:
U14: 30
Eastern Region
Total Players Assessed: 232
Selected: 76
Boys:
U12: 19
U13–U14: 23
U15: 7
Girls:
U14: 29
The next phase of the programme resumes this weekend in the Kampala Region at Old Kampala Secondary School, before moving to the remaining regions — Western, West Nile, Buganda, and Kitara.
Jerome Katende, FUFA’s Chief Scout, expressed optimism about the programme’s progress.
“We have so far covered three regions, and I’m extremely impressed with the turnout and the level of talent we’ve seen. I believe that by the end of this exercise, we will have covered the entire country and unearthed remarkable talent,” he said.
FUFA Executive Committee members Dan Obote (Northern Region) and Richard Ochom (North East Region) echoed Katende’s sentiments, describing the initiative as a significant step towards the sustainable development of football in Uganda.
