The promised meeting between FUFA and the leaders of the Uganda Premier League teams was held on Tuesday September 9, at the Kampala Serena Hotel.
After a four-hour meeting, twelve Premier League clubs agreed with FUFA’s plans to change the top flight, but four of them did not agree, and their leaders left the meeting before it was over. The decisions were taken in their absence.
Vipers SC, SC Villa, NEC FC and Police FC are among the teams in dispute, and their members Dr. Lawrence Mulindwa, Haj. Omar Mandela, and Brian Muhanda have resigned while the meeting is still ongoing as Police FC also said no to the reforms through club Chairman SCP Halango Timothy.
While leaving, Dr. Mulindwa told the media gathered outside the meeting room;
“We can’t continue with the meeting because FUFA has decided to turn it into politics. If they decide to blackmail us, funded by opposition political parties that oppose the Government of Uganda, they also called officials of institutional clubs and forced club presidents, intimidating them to lose their jobs. We have some confusions on that,” he told reporters.
“We think football should not be politicized, and people should not be forced to buy ideas, they disagree with,” he added.
The remaining teams then continued the meeting for about two hours until they agreed to change the league to be played in a new format.
After the meeting, Deo Kasozi, representing Kitara FC, said; “The 13 teams have decided and agreed with FUFA to play a new format. This has been decided for the fans, so that they will be able to see big teams playing against each other several times. In this new format, the competition is expected to be higher than how it has been. I call upon football fans to welcome these reforms.”
FUFA President Engineer Moses Magogo Hashim also said, “We have reached an agreement, and some teams agree. Three teams do not, and in deciding, we have not decided because of the number of teams that agreed, but to show people the benefits of the new format. And those teams that haven’t agreed, we will continue to engage them because we need them, all our teams.”
In the new format, some teams will play 34 matches, while the other teams are expected to play 29 or 32 matches, up from the 30 matches played in the old format.
In the league, each team is expected to play three rounds, with the first round teams playing a single round robin and each team thus playing 15 matches.
In the second round, the league will be split in half, with the top eight teams playing in a draw, while the bottom eight will play in the same format, with 14 matches per team.
In the third round, the top six teams from the top eight will play each other once, and each team will play five games to decide the league winner, the same as the bottom six in the bottom half.
After the third round, the bottom two teams will face direct relegation, while the third team will be relegated after a playoff against the third-place team of the second tier, as the top two are having direct promotions.
