Shs50m pledged for Cranes win, Fufa decries 'costly' Egypt sojourn
L-R: MTN Uganda senior manager in charge of brand and communication Martin Sebuliba, chief marketing officer Somdev Sen and Fufa chief executive officer Edgar Watson during the unveling of the sponorship. PHOTO/DENIS BBOSA
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The fans back home will also vote for their player of the match who will be given Shs2m while 20 lucky supporters will stand a chance to take home Shs100,000 each. Cranes have managed one point out of two group matches.
The Uganda Cranes camp in Cairo has been morale boosted with a monetary pledge from national team new sponsors MTN on condition they manage to beat neighbours Tanzania on Friday in the Afcon qualifiers.
According to MTN Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Somdev Sen, all the players that will partake in the heated Ismailia cross-border contest will bag Shs1m each if they collect three points in Group F.
"We are celebrating with them by giving them one million shillings each if they win. The man of the match will also get Shs2m from the shs50m package we have extended to the national team," Sen told Daily Monitor on Monday at the MTN Headquarters in Kampala.
To bring the Cranes experience closer to home, MTN will stage a chief viewing point downtown in Old Taxi Park on D-Day while they have also pledged to give the Cranes another package should they win the subsequent clash with Tanzania in Dar es Salaam next week.
"We believe that nothing is impossible for Cranes and that the Afcon tourney is the road in-between our 2026 World Cup dream," he added.
The fans back home will also vote for their player of the match who will be given Shs2m while 20 lucky supporters will stand a chance to take home Shs100,000 each. Cranes have managed one point out of two group matches.
Why Fufa chose the Pharaohs
Hosting a home match 4,000 kilometres away from the fans is not an ideal position that Fufa and sponsors MTN that sank Shs19b for five years in January would cherish at the moment.
"When Caf instructed us to look for a stadium with 'Classification A' License (hosts Afcon, World Cup and Champions matches) we couldn't think of St Mary's Stadium-Kitende that is operating on a provisional licence.
"Rwanda's Huye Stadium was also on provisional status, Kenya was on a Fifa ban then yet we couldn't give group rivals Tanzania the advantage of playing two matches at home," Fufa CEO Edgar Watson revealed.
He said some of the operation issues of uplifting Kitende to the derserved class are above its owners like paving the pathway to the stadium.
"We zeroed in Egypt because of four parameters; being convenient for professional players to connect from across the globe, needing one flight connection from Uganda, Egypt FA welcoming and friendly spirit and the variety of certified stadia that they have," Watson added.
Yet he was quick to mention the costly nature of the venture for the federation and hoped the government would be done with renovating Namboole Stadium by June when Uganda hosts Algeria.
With Uganda charged with bearing the costs and caring for the security and accomodation of the Tanzanians in Egypt, an insider at Fufa intimated that the entire fixture may accumulate to about Shs700m.
