Africa-Press – Uganda. Hundreds of prospective young footballers from 25 academies came out to compete at the Uganda Youth Football Association U13 championship in Mbale City where Kampala giants Sparta 09 were crowned champions on Sunday beating KJT 1-0. Kumi’s CBI emerged girls’ champions.
The five-day event organised to provide a competitive platform for the youngsters lifted the spirits of those that came to the municipal stadium just weeks after several people were devastated by floods.
Nicholas Kawooya, a menacing running forward scored the only goal at the stroke of halftime in the game to give the Lungujja side the much-needed victory.
“It’s a great day. We are making history by being the first team to win this championship,” Patrick Song, the head coach of Sparta 09, said.
Communities Beyond Imagination (CBI) from Kumi were the girls’ champions having beaten home side Sky Sports 1-0 in the final to earn their second successful victory in a fortnight. The Kumi side are Odilo Champions for the North East region.
The tournament comes in to fill the void left by age-grade competitions formerly organised by Friends of Football and Kampala Kids League in the past.
Roberts Kiwanuka, the chairman of the Uganda Youth Football Associations (UYFA) stressed that the competition is a stepping stone for building strong national teams.
“this is a new chapter. By exposing children to competition at an early age, we can easily reach the World Cup. It is the only target as Uganda now regularly plays at the Africa Cup of Nations,” Kiwanuka said.
The U13 championship targets children under academies, while Fufa’s Odilo targets primary schools.
But Rogers Byamukama, who represented Fufa at the finals said that by having more organised competitions, the catchment area grows to enable more players to participate.
“Through the various platforms, we can have as many children getting an opportunity to play. But what we request of UYFA is to emphasise training of coaches and more regulation of the academies to propel growth,” Byamukama said.
Dry competition
Despite being a youth competition, the tournament will be criticised for the few goals scored. The top scorer Kawooya of Sparta 09 a Primary Six pupil of Busega Community School had four goals of the five the champions scored in the tournament. The second top scorer, Davis Sebunya had two goals.
Ivan Ashaba, the head coach of KJT, blamed the lack of goals to the small goal size.
“We needed bigger goals. These ones are for the U10 teams. The technical team can improve on this next season,” Ashaba, whose side scored three goals and conceded once in six games, said.
Apart from the competition, the organisers cried foul for the lack of interest from sponsors. The tournament was held with some help from Fufa in terms of competition balls while a few corporate sponsors such as Equator University gave the organisers a hand.
“We hope more sponsors will be interested when we hold the second edition. Funding grassroots is the best investment and any company should take this opportunity with open hands,” Kiwanuka noted.
UYFA U13 Championship finals
Girls: Sky Sports 0-0 CBI (Pens. 4-5).
Boys: Sparta 09 1-0 KJT
Individual awards
Girls
MVP: Faith Gloria Akol (CBI)
Top scorer: Zainab Nabifo (3 goals) – Sky Sports
Golden gloves: Zainab Taliba (Sky Sports)
Fairplay: Nsambya Young Stars
Boys
MVP: Mikidad Moroga (Sparta 09)
Top Scorer: Nicholas Kawooya (4 goals) – Sparta 09
Best goalkeeper: Jamal Kiyaga (KJT)
Fairplay: Kasese Bronken
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