Up-close with our pros

Uganda Cranes players step onto the Namboole Stadium turf against Angola tomorrow with the country’s 2012 Nations Cup hopes heavy on their shoulders. Fourteen of those are foreign-based but only 10 cut the mark as professional footballers. Andrew Mwanguhya takes a sneak peek into your stars’ lives.

Ibrahim Sekagya (Salzburg, Austria)
Arguably the best footballer Uganda has had in recent memory. Partizan Belgrade’s Nestroy Kizito might have set a precedent by becoming the first Ugandan to qualify for the European Champions League but Sekagya remains a hallmark.
Starting out at KCC, the majestic defender’s tours of duty have seen him play for Argentina’s Atlético Rafaela, Ferro Carril Oeste and Arsenal de Sarandí before finally finding a more familiar and rewarding turf at Red Bull Salzburg in Austria. He’s won three league titles with them since joining in 2007. He has played with Salzburg Italy, Spain, England and America.
Salary discussions to him, too, are for another day. He’d rather talk about his family of two “handsome” boys and a wife. The 29-year-old says his best friend is David Obua.

David Obua (Hearts, Scotland)
The lanky forward, who started out at Police, traversing Express, AS Port-Louis and Kaizer Chiefs before pitching camp at Hearts, knows how to live his life. He can also be as evasive as interesting.
He defied odds by recovering in time for the match. Most of the questions to him are passed on as quickly as they are asked. The 26-year-old will not readily discuss which car he drives in Scotland and back home. As for earnings, better get a lift.
“Next question, please…,” he says. But our sources indicate Obua cruises a Range Rover Sport in Scotland, as proved by his profile picture on Facebook. While in Uganda, the Hearts forward has been seen driving a Mercedes SL 240. When Obua is not playing football, he is swinging the golf clubs, doing a Play Station 3 or relaxing with friends. Laryea Kingston was his best friend before he moved but Ibrahim Sekagya is his closest back home.
“He is the best captain in Africa,” he says of Sekagya.
Denis Onyango (Black Aces, SA)
The giant keeper comes across as a soft spoken but lively person. He recently signed with Aces from SuperSport for Shs150m and is a lucky recipient of 80, 000 rands (Shs24m) a month. That partly explains the Pajero he drives while in Uganda and a Golf 5 Volkswagen in SA.
When he’s not playing football, he’s traversing South African malls with his girlfriend and four-year-old son shopping or watching movies. The 25-year-old also loves spending time home with family in his two bed-roomed apartments in Witbank.
He’s guaranteed six trips a year to and from Uganda and club travels have seen him tour Australia in 2008 with SuperSport.
The second boy in a family of six (four girls), he holds his family so dear they are the world to him.
Posnet Omwony and Brian Umony (no relation) are his best friends.

Hassan Wasswa (Altay – on loan from Karabukspor, Turkey)
The defender-cum midfielder has been loaned to lower side Altay.
Wasswa, though, still manages to take home 4000 euros (Shs11m) a month and 800 euros (Shs2m) for every game he plays.
When home, the 23-year-old drives a Toyota Harrier but rides in a Volkswagen Jetta while in Turkey.
Wasswa travels home twice a year and says he owes a lot to his mother and father for he wouldn’t be where he is if it were not for them. “They are the best thing that ever happened to me,” he says.
Brian Umony (Tuks – on loan from SuperSport)
The shy striker has had some difficult times at SuperSport, hardly finding playing time, the reason he’s been loaned to Second Division side Tuks. Just like most, anything else but money goes. “…salary is strictly confidential…out of bounds,” he says.
Umony, scorer of eight goals in nine matches, is looking to acquire his first wheels this season.
Onyango is his best friend and the goalkeeper’s family is close to him, he says. A South Africa-based Ugandan Patrick Nsereko and his family, plus a few natives are his buddies in the Rainbow Nation and he’s looking to making new friends at his new club.

Others...
Tony Mawejje (IBV, Iceland), Vincent Kayizzi (FK Srem, Serbia), Andy Mwesigwa (unattached after his name was scrapped off China’s Lifan squad), Geoffrey Massa (Etisalat, Egypt) and Geoffrey Sserunkuma (Bidvest Wits, SA) are the other pros.