Vipers are the logical choice to play in Africa
Players of Vipers SC
What you need to know:
- Fufa, have written to SC Villa and Vipers, who finished second and third respectively in the Azam Uganda Premier League
- The choice of the Confederations Cup representative is usually based on the Ugandan Cup but none of the sides that reached the latter stages in the knockout competition is willing to take up the appetising but enormous task of competing in Africa.
- Playing continental football requires deep pockets and right now, only a handful of teams can afford to meet the costs of flying around Africa to play on home and away basis.
Ugandan football is in a small spot of bother regarding the team that will represent the country in next year’s Caf Confederation Cup.
With KCCA winning the League and Cup double, the spot automatically should have been taken up by Uganda Cup losing finalists Piadha Black Angels but the West Nile-based team do not have the resources to participate in continental football.
KCCA lest we forget will play in the prestigious Caf Champions League as winners of the league.
The two Uganda Cup semi-finalists Express and Sadolin – now called Plascon FC – have also declined to commit to represent the country in Caf competition.
Today it is understood that the local soccer governing body, Fufa, have written to SC Villa and Vipers, who finished second and third respectively in the Azam Uganda Premier League.
Villa and Vipers were Uganda’s flag bearers in the Confederations Cup in the years 2016 and 2017.
The choice of the Confederations Cup representative is usually based on the Ugandan Cup but none of the sides that reached the latter stages in the knockout competition is willing to take up the appetising but enormous task of competing in Africa.
This precisely explains why Fufa have now taken the unprecedented but coherent option of using the league to pick the country’s representative.
SC Villa, having finished second, should be the front runners but reports from Villa Park in Nsambya indicate that the club’s resources have been stretched to the point where playing in African football at the moment is a luxury Wasswa Bbosa’s team can do without.
Playing continental football requires deep pockets among so many other things and right now, only a handful of teams can afford to meet the costs of flying around Africa to play on home and away basis.
Even KCCA FC, a team backed by Jennifer Musisi and Kampala Capital City Authority, laboured to compete on the continent last season because of the financial burden the away matches left on the club.
Vipers as the third placed team in the league last season are lying in wait. Apparently the club are eager to accept the invitation from Fufa and want to build on their performance from last season when they were eliminated by South African side Platinum Stars.
The Kitende-based team do have the resources and appear the logical choice to take up the slot.
And having learnt a lesson or two from the continent last season, their return to the Confederation Cup can only make them better prepared this time round.
