Mbale Heroes look to better times after Kiboga takeover

Mbale Heroes Football Club is a household name in Eastern Uganda. They boast of two Uganda Cup titles won in 1976 and 1999 and featured on the continent in ensuing years of 1977 and 2000.
In its heyday, it nurtured and housed talent from Bugishu region like Charles Namakhola, Ibrahim Maruti, Hussein Mbalangu, Golf Malanda, Henry Okubasu, Eugene Ssepuuya, Fred Wamukota, Geoffrey Massa and Sam Ssimbwa who graced the grand stage of club football in the country. But Mbale has never held its glee again ever since it suffered relegation after the 2006-07 season.
However, the good times could be back after Mbale completed the takeover of Kiboga Young with a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) this week. The merger of the two clubs comes after a series of extended talks for over a year. But a press conference in Mbale City on Monday cleared the uncertainty surrounding the ownership of the club. Prior, there had been standoff between the two clubs when Mbale businessman Wycliffe Mwambu who bought Kiboga Young in 2019. He then claimed he had bought the club for Heroes to the dismay of officials and fans.
“Our main difference has always been about the shares of the team,” said Uthuma Mugoya, who has been the chairman of Mbale Heroes, at Mt Elgon Hotel. “If Mwambu had bought this team for Mbale Heroes, how comes all documents were reading that all shares are 100 percent are for him? That was our concern and yet Mbale Heroes is a community team.” The period over the last year helped both parties to come to terms and, Mwambu agreed to relinquish 51 percent to the community and 49 percent for shareholders as highlighted in the MoU.

“Being a businessman, he had invested in a lot of money, we engaged him and told him that if he wants the name of Mbale Heroes then he had to relinquish 51 percent to the community and 49 for shareholders which he accepted “he added.
And have also already submitted it to Fufa for a change of names from Kiboga Young to Mbale Heroes.
Top action awaits
It means the latter will become a Fufa Big League side, or even a Uganda Premier League (UPL) side for the first time in 13 years, should Kiboga go past Ndejje University and win the pending playoffs. Mugoya said that the slot left in the Fourth Division for Mbale Heroes will thus be renamed Mbale Heroes Reserve team.
“The Mbale Heroes Reserve will feed the team in the Big League, we are looking for talent and nurture from different parts of the country who will play in the Fourth Division and we then after, we shall, consequently promote