Kalungi offers chance for children to live their football dreams

Giving back.  Kalungi trains with youngsters in Katanga. PHOTO / GEORGE KATONGOLE

What you need to know:

  • Kalungi, who last played for the Cranes in  May 2014, has been making this personal gesture for seven years, hosting a Christmas party for underprivileged children in Katanga slum and donating football equipment to teams in that community.

It is that time of the year when foreign-based professional players return home and hold charity activities.

Kalungi, who last played for the Cranes in  May 2014, has been making this personal gesture for seven years, hosting a Christmas party for underprivileged children in Katanga slum and donating football equipment to teams in that community.

This year, he wants to offer children that love football an opportunity to pursue their aspirations with the help of his planned sports school in Luweero District.

Having missed last year with Covid travel restrictions in the US where he is based, he fulfilled his desire by making a treacherous trip to Uganda, this time without his wife, Jaqueline.

Due to travel complications, he missed his flight in Washington DC arriving in Uganda on December 28.

“It is important to be here for Christmas. Even though I could not share the Christmas joy with the children, I have to make it happen,” Kalungi, who works under the Henry Kalungi Foundation, said as he hosted children at Buganda Road football grounds on Wednesday.

After a brief football game with youth players from Universal Soccer Academy and All Winners, he served the players lunch, capped with cake cutting.

“For some reasons, our equipment did not arrive in time. But when it does, we shall make sure that the right beneficiaries receive them,” he said.

Creating a pathway

But he encouraged players to remain focused and disciplined if they are to become professional players.

Joining a football academy is the perfect opportunity to get started into professional football.

Kalungi, who started Alpha Soccer Academy to develop impactful, disciplined and determined leaders that can leave a positive legacy in their communities, says that parents whose children participate in elite teams run by non-church or school organisations were spending not less than $500 per month in the US. Others spend up to $1,000 per month.

“We are lucky in Uganda that academies are affordable. But we want to make it more affordable because many talented players cannot afford even the low costs and kits,” Kalungi said, explaining that he will start work on the school that will host his academy in Bulemeezi where they acquired 15 acres of land.

“I am hoping that the plans will be ready soon such that we start with the football pitches and have them ready by the end of the year,” he said.

He says that when the school becomes operational, he will be able to have exchange programmes with teams in the US to enable players to develop professionally.

Kalungi, who was capped by the national team 16 times between 2011 and 2014 before his fallout with Milutin “Micho” Sredojevic, hoped the programme would help children fulfill their dreams and encourage more young people to pursue their ambitions.