Kasozi leaves Kitara with head held high

According to Kasozi, at the time, Kitara was operating a Shs700m budget with about Shs250m coming from fans through matchday gate collections and buying merchandise.

“I cannot disclose the budget now but I can say it has definitely grown and the fans continue to contribute about 20 percent through gate collections and anoter 10 percent through merchandising,” Kasozi shared in a recent interview to take stock of his three year term at the helm of the club he has created in his own image.

The business man-cum-lawyer is without doubt hardworking, ever present, competitive, transparent, and honest.

“When I came in, the aim was to grow the brand of the club and also make it competitive in the Uganda Premier League (UPL).” At the time, Kasozi shared that they wanted to be a top-five UPL club and he believes that the fans of Kitara will “give me a distinction as far as marketing the club and getting results on pitch is concerned.”

Growth

In the first season in the topflight, Kitara finished fourth, won the Uganda Cup and qualified to compete in the Caf Confederation Cup.

The club that was receiving Shsh50m from Kinyara Sugar Works, attracted another sponsor in Jonard Conglomerate Limited reportedly putting in Shs200m for two years. Kitara also had more money coming in “through the UPL’s television rights”, and earned “Shs180m” from their “participation in the aforementioned Caf competition,” where they were eliminated by Libyan side Al Hilal Benghazi 6-4 on aggregate.

Kasozi came in with a plan to sell players to recoup funds from the transfer market and realistically, there was no way they were keeping their talisman Denis Omedi after such a campaign. In the January 2025 transfer window, they sold Denis Omedi to Rwandan side APR for an undisclosed fee.

In a way Kitara became victims of their own success. First, the qualification for the continental tourney pushed them to play preparatory friendlies in Ethiopia in July and the fourth-place finish in the league ensured that they played in the Fufa Super 8 tournament in August and September amidst their ties with Al Hilal.

Challenging season

“We ended up having less than two weeks of pre-season before the 2024/25 season started. There was barely any time for the coach (Brian Ssenyondo) to refresh things a bit, even though we felt we had a squad of mature players, including two who were starting for the national team (Omedi and Jude Ssemugabi), ready to win the title. We lost three league games consecutively at home and there was disaster.

“The pressure was too much, majorly from the fans so we made changes (in the dugout). Surprisingly, after two games with the new coach (Wasswa Bbosa), we went 10 games unbeaten and that probably is how we ended up finishing in that position (7th).

“It is not 5th as I had promised but it is good because we can get to play in the Super 8, which for us is significant. Remember that is the tournament where Omedi scored that goal which was nominated for the Fifa Puskas Award and that put him and the club in the global limelight. For us it is paramount that we play in the tournament,” Kasozi says.

Kasozi has always been honest about his relationships with the coaches. When Mark Twinamatsiko had issues with the dressing room, Kasozi acted fast in relieving him of his duties. When Sam Ssimbwa got them promoted to the UPL, Kasozi felt the coach’s ambitions to win the league in their first topflight season were over ambitious and would leave them burning their fingers so he brought Ssenyondo.

Different ball game

Kasozi also wanted Kitara to be a self-sustaining club in five years. But after serving three of those and understanding the dynamics of local football better, he has since revised the timeline to another six years.

“In law we say; res ipsa loquitur. Facts speak for themselves. We cannot break even now because there are many variables that influence that growth.

“I mean the passion of the fans is there but it drops when we lose yet they are a big source of income for us. They will not watch if we lose three consecutive games, and this issue needs to be studied further because our fans are not so rich.”

On September 14, 2024, relocated from Booma Stadium in Masindi to their own stadium, Royals Park in Butema, Hoima but lost 2-1 on the day to NEC. Kasozi says it was an emotional and highly attended match as “we were returning home” but with results, the attendance tanked to “about 60 percent” of what they had in Masindi and out flew the hope that revenue would increase from the move.

“So we need further sensitization and entrenchment of the team onto the fans. You have clubs in Europe which lose every week and the fans keep coming and even tell opponents ‘you are nothing special, we lose every week’.”

Part of this explanation plan for fans included proposals to establish membership tiers and Saccos.

“This is where I was an average performer. I did not give enough time to implement these proposals because mainly fans wanted the head of the club to be part of these sensitization meetings.

“Some subscribed but at a minimal entry level. I had the time for the 90 minutes of the game and maybe an extra 20 to chat with the team and the fans as I had to travel back to Kampala, where I work. When I am in Kampala, work is tight.

“But there is no pressure. I pray that the new president of the club implements some of these ideas. I will personally try some of these ideas in my new project because while there, I have a leeway to correct what might not go well. But in public projects, people do not forgive errors easily,” Kasozi explained.

The new plan

Kasozi, as he shared in the aforementioned interview, will now retreat to Mukono where he intends to put up a first class academy at his St. Paul Secondary School in Wanyonyi - just about two kilometres from the Igar petrol station on the main road.

He has about 10 acres of land there with half of them dedicated to the academy, which he will run for three to four years before turning it into a club.

The academy, which will have a main pitch, a training one, and a hostel will be aligned to the school and also use that as a magnet to recruit players from countries like Senegal, Nigeria, Ghana, or Cameroon, and if costs allow, North Africa.

“We want to bring young underprivileged players, of like 12 years, from those countries then blend them in and do a long term study on them. At like age 17, we can sell them and find out if the reason Ugandan players are not marketable has something to do with talent or other factors,” Kasozi, who is not shy of his intentions to make money from football, told Sunday Monitor then.

Kasozi at a glance

Name: Deo Kasozi

Football: President Kitara (July 2022-June 2025)

Achievements with Kitara: Caf Confederation Cup first round, Uganda Cup winners 2024 and semis 2025, Fufa Big League winners 2022/23, Fourth in UPL 2023/24 and 7th in 2024/25

Profession: Businessman and lawyer