Fufa plot next leap in women’s football

When Fufa wanted to start the Women Elite League (FWEL), most of the initial help came from Fifa.

First there was a visit from Fifa instructor on marketing and communication Emy Casaletti and Namibia coach Jacqui Shipanga to launch the Fifa ‘Live Your Goals’ project in 2014 aimed at encouraging girls to play football.

For the first two seasons , Fifa also provided jerseys and balls for all 12 teams in the league, before letting the FWEL find its own wings.

The growth of the top flight league, which became the Fufa Women Super League (FWSL) in 2019 is very visible.

Almost all most valuable players (MVPs) and Fufa women player of the year winners from 2015 – except Hasifah Nassuna – ply their trade abroad.

Nassuna is still here but is the most decorated player at home with four topflight titles, for Kawempe Muslim and Uganda Christian University (UCU), and is two goals shy of a century in the division.

The national team, the Crested Cranes, and the youth teams – Queen Cranes (U-20) and Teen Cranes (U-17) – are hugely dependent on local-based players. Ironically, in 2013, Fufa pulled out of the U-20 World Cup qualifiers claiming the players were not ready.

Development programme
With Uganda now a regular in these qualifiers and set to return to the Africa Women Cup of Nations (Awcon) in July after 20 years, it is understandable that Fufa now want to make the next leap forward. 
And Fufa have sought the help of Fifa again through the latter’s Women Development Programme.
While the players have grown, there has not been as much corresponding growth in other aspects like coaching, refereeing, administration among the women.

For example, there is no female head coach in the current FWSL set up.

“Since the 2019 Women’s World Cup in Canada, Fifa have intensified its support towards women’s football and there are programs that are open to all 211 member associations but you have to apply for them,” Fufa’s director of football development Ali Mwebe, told Daily Monitor ahead of the Saturday’s launch of the project in Mukono.

“We looked at the projects and felt we qualified to strength our existing leagues (FWSL and FWEL, now the second tier).

“We have had support in the past like when we sent (Faridah) Bulega for the Coach Education program in Kenya, where she earned that Caf B (license). Fifa granted us $10,500 (about Shs37.8m).

“We also had the club licensing programme for FWSL and FWEL clubs before the start of the season.

Capacity building training

“Now, for the next two years, we want to have capacity building courses for coaches, referees, goalkeeping and fitness coaches, club administrators,” Mwebe, who added that the project will be funded to up to $50,000 (about Shs180m) per year said.

“The problem is that most of our teams are based in schools and the people we have taught in the past are not attached to them, they seem like foreigners when they go there,” Mwebe said.
Fufa are at the example of Belarus, where Fifa supported the growth of an U-13 league to close the gap between the grassroots and the U-16 league thereby leading to the creation of 60 new teams and 1,200 players.

“So what we are encouraging now is having students who know the culture of the team take on these courses. For example, UCU has Sharon Kiiza doing the ongoing Caf B and she will easily fit into their technical set up if she goes back,” Mwebe argued.

Fifa and Zimbabwean experts Violet Jubane and Thuba Sibanda will grace the launch while Fufa development officer Joan Namusisi will be the project coordinator. 

Uganda has made great strides in recent performance in continental football.

The USA are the best ranked team in the world followed by European giants Sweden, France and Germany, while Uganda is 157th.

Ali Mwebe, football development

"Now, for the next two years, we want to have capacity building courses for coaches, referees, goalkeeping and fitness coaches, club administrators. The problem is that most of our teams are based in schools and the people we have taught in the past are not attached to them, they seem like foreigners when they go there."

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