During the official opening of the 2024 Uganda Secondary Schools Sports Association U20 Boys’ National Football Championship at Lira Town College on May 13.
Assistant Commissioner in charge of Physical Education and Sports, Sammy Odong, has pleaded with the government of Uganda to increase the budget allocated to the Ministry of Education and Sports so that the ministry can fully support teams representing the country on the international stage.
In his speech at the event, which had the State Minister for Primary Education, Joyce Moriku Kaducu, as the chief guest, Odong stated, “I would like to congratulate Lira Town College for hosting these games. I humbly appeal to the Government to adjust the budget so that we can fully support all Ugandan teams representing the country at the international level.”
Later, the chief guest called for fair play in nurturing students before officially opening the Championship, which commenced on May 10 and runs to May 20, with over 64 schools taking part.
At the moment, most schools have already progressed from the group stage to the knockout stage, while other teams will continue to play in 32- to 64-place matches, as USSSA president Justus Mugisha confirmed.
The best four teams at the end of this national championship shall represent Uganda at FEASSA games later this year, with the best teams at the regional championship continuing to take part at the African continent championship and maybe at the ISF championship.
In recent years, a number of teams have been able to represent Uganda internationally in different parts of the globe in different sports disciplines, with the schools and the government of Uganda co-handling the burden.
