Moroto football gets Fof, City Tyres support
Eddie Butindo is the Fof technical head.
What you need to know:
Chenga Challenge. Moroto, a dormant soccer region, set to host the Chenga Challenge finals starting Friday.
KAMPALA. They set up the first football academy in Uganda close to two decades ago. Now Friends of Football (Fof) and City Tyres, partners since 2000, are hoping to use that expertise to revive football in Moroto, a region that has largely been left behind.
The region is set host the finals of this year’s two-day Chenga Challenge U-14 tournament that starts on Friday. “Taking the Chenga Challenge to the area is a way of opening Moroto to the rest of the world as they have for many years lived a closed way of life. We are giving them a start. It doesn’t have to be perfect,” opined William Nkemba, one of the Fof founders and a former Cranes international.
The tournament has produced a number of Cranes stars over the years including Farouk Miya, Dennis Onyango and Salim Jamal, who were part of the national team that played Comoros yesterday.
On his part David Katabira, who toured the region during the regional qualifiers, requested well-wishers to fundraise for soccer boots for the team selected to represent the region.
Tournament regulations do not allow players to play without football boots, a common occurrence during the regional qualifiers in the region. According to Fof technical director Eddie Butindo, 11 teams will take part in this year’s finals. Arua emerged champions as hosts in 2014.
