Following the various consultative meetings more specifically between FUFA and the 1st Division clubs held at Serena Hotel – Kampala on 2nd September 2025 and 9th September 2025; and also, the response by the individual clubs to the FUFA letter (Ref: FUFA/COMPETITION-CLUBS/2/09/25): The FUFA Executive Committee has taken the decisions herein to refine the content of FUFA circular No. 1202. (Therefore, this circular No. 1203 hereby replaces circular No. 1202 and all its contained decisions)
Consequently, this is to inform all stakeholders of the FUFA Executive Committee decision to reform FUFA Competitions.
The following reforms for the 1st Division League are effective for the 2025/6 season:
A. LEAGUE FORMAT
1. The 1st Division League shall comprise of a maximum of 16 Teams
2. The 1st Division League shall be played over a season in three (3) rounds
Round-1
3. All the teams shall play a one-leg league format to determine the ranking of positions. There shall be a draw conducted to determine which teams play against the others at home and away in Round-1
4. The top 8 ranked teams at the end of Round-1 shall qualify for Group 1 at Round-2
5. The bottom teams at the end of Round-1 shall qualify for Group 2 at Round-2
Round-2
6. Group-1 and Group-2 teams shall play a full league format (within their respective Group) on the basis of home and away
7. The top 6 ranked teams of Group-1 shall qualify for Round-3 to play in Group-3
8. The 7th and 8th teams of Group-1 and the 1st and 2nd teams of Group-2 shall qualify for Round-3 to play in Group-4
9. The bottom 6 ranked teams of Group-2 shall qualify for Round-3 to play in Group-5
Round-3
10. All the teams in Round-3 shall play a one-leg league format to determine the ranking of positions. For each pair of matches, the team that played home in Round-1 shall now play away while the team that played away in Round-1 shall now play home for parity
Season Table Standing
11. There will be points and goals accumulation for both the Round-2 and Round-3 to determine the season table standings.
12. The season ranking of teams shall be as follows:
- Teams of Group-3 that take positions 1-6 after consideration of paragraph 11 above shall take positions 1-6 of the competition for the season
- Teams of Group-4 that take positions 1-4 after consideration of paragraph 11 above shall take positions 7-10 of the competition for the season
- Teams of Group-5 that take positions 1-6 after consideration of paragraph 11 above shall take positions 11-16 of the competition for the season
Champions and Relegation
13. The team ranked in position 1 in season ranking of the teams as provided for in paragraph 12 above shall be declared the champions for the season
14. The 3 teams ranked in positions 11, 12 and 13 at the end of season shall remain sportingly eligible to be licensed for the 2026/7 Season for the 1st Division League
15. The team ranked in position 14 at the end of the season shall play on a home and away basis against the 3rd ranked team from the 2025/6 2nd Division League. The team that wins this fixture over the two (2) legs shall sportingly be eligible to be licensed for the 2026/7 Season for the 1st Division League while the team that loses this fixture over the two (2) legs shall sportingly be eligible to be licensed for the 2026/7 Season for the 2nd Division League
16. The teams ranked in positions 15 and 16 at the end of the season shall sportingly be eligible to be licensed for the 2026/7 Season for the 2nd Division League
B. PLAYERS REGISTRATION FOR THE 1ST DIVISION LEAGUE
17. Only players whose contracts with their respective clubs have two (2) or more years remaining shall be eligible to be licensed for the 2025/6 1st Division League. The exception to this provision shall only be for the player: –
- whose 31st and above birthday shall happen during the upcoming season
- who is already under running contract, signed earlier than 30th June 2024, that shall serve the remaining part of his contract.
18. All the other provisions of player registration shall remain in force until changed
C. DATA
19. It is obligatory that each club in the 1st division to share sporting and business data after every specified period. Corrective Measures shall be applied for failure to comply with this provision
20. FUFA may develop web-based applications to collect this data
Sporting Data
21. At the end of each 1st division league match, each club shall be required to submit FORM (F601) that shall specify the sporting data of the match as recorded by the club. This submission shall not be more than 48 hours after the match
22. Each club playing in the 1st division league shall be required to use the Catapult Technology during the match. The referee shall require that the vests are utilised. In event of failure, the referee will report on the matter.
Business Data
23. At the end of each 1st division league match, each club shall be required to submit FORM (F605) that shall specify the business data of the match as recorded by the club. The business data among others shall include the Match Day Attendances, Revenues Generated from Match Day Attendances. This submission shall not be more than 48 hours after the match
D. FIXTURES
24. 1st Division League matches shall be played as single-header or double header fixtures
25. Double Header Fixture shall mean when matches of 2 UPL Clubs are hosted in one venue with 2-3 hours between the kick-off times of both matches
26. With approval by the home clubs, the UPL will determine which matches may be played as Double-Headers
27. The UPL may change the venue of a match in order to organise a Double-Header
28. UPL has exclusive decisions on which fixtures shall be single-headers
28. Upon consent of home clubs, the UPL may within a period of 14 days combine single-header fixtures into Double Header Fixtures and vice versa
E. FINANCIAL REGULATIONS
Prize Monies
30. FUFA shall provide 532m UGX as Prize Monies for the 1st Division League shared as follows:
| Round-1 | Round-2 &3 | |
| 1 | 38,000,000 | 62,000,000 |
| 2 | 26,000,000 | 36,000,000 |
| 3 | 24,000,000 | 32,000,000 |
| 4 | 22,000,000 | 28,000,000 |
| 5 | 20,000,000 | 24,000,000 |
| 6 | 18,000,000 | 22,000,000 |
| 7 | 16,000,000 | 18,000,000 |
| 8 | 15,000,000 | 15,000,000 |
| 9 | 14,000,000 | 13,000,000 |
| 10 | 13,000,000 | 10,000,000 |
| 11 | 12,000,000 | 9,000,000 |
| 12 | 10,000,000 | 7,000,000 |
| 13 | 8,000,000 | 5,000,000 |
| 14 | 6,000,000 | 3,000,000 |
| 15 | 4,000,000 | 0 |
| 16 | 2,000,000 | 0 |
31. The 3,000,000 UGX indicated for position 14, shall be for the club that wins the play-off for relegation and promotion referenced in paragraph 15 of this circular
Gate Collections
32. Gross takings of the match shall be declared. Any failure to comply or falsification of the information submitted shall cause application of corrective measures by the FUFA Judicial Commission
33. There shall be a fixed amount to be spent as operations costs for every UPL match determined as follows:
- For the single header fixtures, the home club shall apply to UPL for amount to be considered for the operations costs. UPL will confirm or amend the proposed amount and will communicate the final amount to be considered for operations costs
- For the double header fixtures, UPL shall determine and issue the amount to be considered for the operations costs.
34. When the mandatory taxes and operations costs have been deducted, the remaining amount shall be referred to as the Sharable Revenue
35. For single header fixtures, the shareable revenues shall be as follows:
| Home Team | 90% |
| UPL | 5% |
| FUFA | 5% |
| 100% |
36. For double header fixtures:
- There shall be a categorisation of teams in terms of fans following in accordance with the fans’ data of the previous season. For the 2025/6 Season, the categorisation shall be as follows:
| Cat-1 | Cat-2 | Cat-3 |
| Vipers SC | BUL FC | Police |
| KCCA FC | Calvary | URA |
| SC Villa | Mbarara City | UPDF |
| Kitara FC | Buhimba Saints | Maroons |
| Express FC | Lugazi FC | UPPC |
| NEC |
b. The shareable revenue shall be as follows:
| Home Team-1 | A% |
| Home Team-2 | B% |
| Away Team-1 | 5% |
| Away Team-2 | 5% |
| UPL | 5% |
| FUFA | 5% |
| 100% |
c. The percentage shares by the home teams (A and B) shall be as follows:
| Home-1 | Cat-1 (A) | 40% |
| Home-2 | Cat-1 (B) | 40% |
| Home-1 | Cat-1 (A) | 48% |
| Home-2 | Cat-2 (B) | 32% |
| Home-1 | Cat-1 (A) | 56% |
| Home-2 | Cat-3 (B) | 24% |
| Home-1 | Cat-2 (A) | 40% |
| Home-2 | Cat-2 (B) | 40% |
| Home-1 | Cat-2 (A) | 48% |
| Home-2 | Cat-3 (B) | 32% |
| Home-1 | Cat-3 (A) | 40% |
| Home-2 | Cat-3 (B) | 40% |
37. The share of FUFA and UPL of the Gate Collections shall be deducted effective 2025/6 season, as provided for in this circular, but shall be donated back to the respective clubs for only the season 2025/6. For avoidance doubt, the funds collected from each club shall be donated back to the respective club in the same amount
38. The breakdown of the 3.4bn UGX fund shall be as follows:
| Prize Money | 532,000,000 | |||
| Media and Marketing | 240,000,000 | |||
| Locker Room Bonuses (R2 & R3) | 30 | 148 | 100,000 | 444,000,000 |
| Staffing UPL | 12 | 20,000,000 | 240,000,000 | |
| Cash grant to the 16 clubs | 16 | 80,000,000 | 1,280,000,000 | |
| Players’ Insurance (25 players per Club) | 25 | 16 | 1,200,000 | 480,000,000 |
| Man of the Match (R2 & R3) | 148 | 500,000 | 74,000,000 | |
| Various Expenses | 110,000,000 | |||
| TOTAL | 3,400,000,000 | |||
39. The content of this circular shall be included in the next issue of the FUFA Competitions Rules.
