A vociferous return for Namboole

Five years on, Namboole stadium rose from its lengthy slumber as Fufa used the StarTimes Uganda Premier League as a guinea pig in a bid to regain rights to host international games. 

A near-capacity crowd watched Bul’s 1-0 victory over Vipers and KCCA overcome SC Villa 2-0 in the Kampala derby on Wednesday. 

Those results sent Bul to the top on 49 points, a point clear of Kitara with Vipers third and a further two adrift. 

Villa (45), Nec (43) and KCCA (42 follow in that order as this promises to be the best league finish in years. 

You could sense there was a thirst for the stadium but also this was helped by picking fixtures involving teams in direct confrontation for the league title. 

Being a public holiday, the International Labour Day, the public had a lot of free time for many. 

However, in the grand scheme of things this day was about points elsewhere following Namboole’s international ban. 

Football authorities, Caf and Fifa, demanded that the stadium be renovated to have a better playing surface, modern floodlights and turn it an all-seater facility. 

Others that were to be improved included the use of an automated access control systems, expansion of dressing rooms that had to be increased from two to four and refurbishment of the VIP and VVIP stands. 

Namboole got a lot of pluses but the mess that came with the automated access control failing and people with tickets being blocked left the organisers naked. 

The floodlights aren’t as good as they should be and Namboole now faces the proverbial race against time for next month’s 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers. 

StarTimes Uganda Premier League 

Results 

Bul 1-0 Vipers 

KCCA 2-0 SC Villa