New Crested Cranes coach Bulega ready to juggle tasks

The task ahead. Balega will perform her duties with ‘passion’ and ‘care’. PHOTO BY MAKHTUM MUZIRANSA

What you need to know:

  • Soccer. Bulega replaced Majidah Nantanda, who held the mantle since 2010

KAMPALA. On Wednesday, Fufa sprung a surprise by appointing Faridah Bulega as national women’s team – Crested Cranes – coach.
Bulega replaced Majidah Nantanda, who held the mantle since 2010 and led Crested Cranes to fourth-place in the seven team Cecafa Women’s Championship held in Njeru last September.
“It is a good feeling that I have been appointed for this big task which I need to perform with lots of passion and care,” Bulega told Daily Monitor.
Fufa chief executive officer (CEO) Edgar Watson only explained the appointments as resolutions from the first Fufa executive meeting early this week. What is no secret is that Nantanda, who called this development “just a change,” had no contract with Fufa and has been accused by many followers of “not watching league football” and in some media circles of ‘spearheading a national team that has been undermined by homosexuality.’
Bulega’s appointment comes on the back of yet another selection as a delegate of the Fufa Women Elite League to the football body while she is also the head coach at Kampala Queens, a ladies’ football side owned by Fufa president Moses Magogo.
“National team football comes once in a while. You could even have just one match in a year yet I am coach. What else can I do for with the rest of my time?” Bulega rhetorically asked when the ‘conflict of interest’ was put to her.
Therein lie some of the problems Bulega inherits – a national team that is hardly engaged. Before Cecafa, the national team had last been put together during the 2014 Fifa U20 World Cup qualifiers which Uganda pulled out of due to financial constraints.
The national team has still not been engaged or summoned for any engagements for over a year despite different continental and international tournaments being played.
“If there is financial muscle for us to participate, there is no reason why we shouldn’t perform. We have a good league and players abroad, good talent in schools and we should be ready to close the gap.
“What other countries like Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania have is the unity. Their teams have been together for quite some time and that is what we should aspire to do,” Bulega explained.

THE APPOINTMENTS

Crested Cranes coaching team
Head coach: Faridah Bulega
Assistant Coach: Edward Kaziba
Goalkeepers’ Trainer: Daniel Kiwanuka
U-20 Women
Head coach: Edward Kaziba
Assistant Coach: Oliver Mbekeka
Goalkeepers’ Trainer: Daniel Kiwanuka