Uefa boss Čeferin preaches football for good

A day to remember, it will go down in the annals of the Aliguma Foundation, but more so, for Uefa president Aleksander Čeferin on his first-ever visit to Uganda. 

The president of the governing body of European football associations must have wished that he had checked in for a longer stay, or that the 73rd Fifa Congress scheduled for BK Arena in Kigali – where he was scheduled to head to before dusk on Wednesday, could have been postponed. 

Right from his arrival on Tuesday night, Čeferin couldn’t seem to get enough of anything. It was hard to blame him – such is the allure of the Pearl of Africa. Things moved a lot faster than he anticipated at dawn on Wednesday.

Life in slums

From his stay at Serena Hotel Kampala, to his early morning media engagement, the clock was against him. On reaching the Kireka-Banda B1 Zone codenamed Acholi Quarters, it further dawned on him that there wouldn’t be enough time for him to visit every Aliguma Foundation project and he wisely opted for quick ‘painful’ glances. 

Abandoning his vehicle by the roadside, Čeferin and Uefa entourage comprising of Kevin Lamour (Member of the Board), Urs Kluser (General Secretary) and  Sršen Matej (Consultant) were happy to go squeeze through uneven corridors, skip over ‘dangerous’ makeshift gutters with a mix of running waste products and rubbish from one project to the other with a band in tow alongside dancing and chanting elderly mothers of the area in full flow.  

The sights of half-dressed children playing banana-fiber made balls from the makeshift grounds all over the place, young mothers openly feeding their little ones and youth aimlessly walking around going through the numerous rubbish pits were unavoidable.  But Čeferin took it all in good faith as most of the Uefa envoy tried to hold back their emotions in vain with the tale-a-tale from the few natives that spoke.

Game changer

“Football is not only about football. But it is a foundation of help for children around the world. It is, maybe, the most powerful thing in the world. We shouldn’t think that football is only top class football. Football a beautiful thing that we must use as a force for good to do good things and funding the Aliguma Foundation is one of the beautiful things we are doing,” said the 55-year-old Čeferin at the exhibition warehouse where he, not only gifted with his host State Minister for Sports Peter Ogwang, but also got to see firsthand the enterprise side of the Acholi Quarters people.

After enjoying a kick about at the Primary Schools Slums Soccer Gala, the Slovenian lawyer was understandably overwhelmed. 

“The visit has been amazing. It has been an emotional experience for me. I have had a glimpse of so many things, but I would love to come back and see what real life looks like here. I am grateful to Ritah and the foundation for having made it possible to bring us here. It is not a gift that I came, but it is a gift that you received me. She has shown that with a good heart, you can give the little you have and make a change in many people’s lives. This is the highlight of my Tour to Africa this year.

On November 9, 2022, Čeferin made the big announcement that in addition to 65 humanitarian projects around the world, the Aliguma Foundation would get a second grant and be part of Uefa’s Sports For Resilience & Empowerment Project (SREP) worth €4.9m (an estimated Shs19b) after its satisfactory works with the first call.

Grateful as ever

“It is the greatest of honours for us as a little foundation to have the president of Uefa in our small and humble community of Acholi Quarters. It means a lot; not only to Uganda but to Africa at large.  This visit is a message of hope and love to all the children and youth in all slum-dwellers communities of Uganda. It is a big inspiration and I am hopeful many will now change their ways and live purposeful livelihoods by harnessing their talents, taking school seriously and developing other enterprise skills,” said the foundation’s CEO Ritah Aliguma.

Ogwang was keen on future partnership for Uganda with Uefa. “I have had an engagement with the National Council of Sports (Ambrose Tashobya) on some of the partnerships which we feel we need to work with them directly for purposes of benefitting our people here in Uganda. To begin with; Čeferin has agreed to put an astro-turf at this place and as a government we promise to pay the taxes once the turf arrives,” said Ogwang.

“He has also told me to share with him some of the strategic areas as a country where we feel he can be of help as far as football management is concerned. And for me I would love him to help us with the issue of coaching. We need our coaches to be taken through the Uefa Pro Licence Coaching badges. This is the highest level for tacticians and it will benefit us if they can return home and nurture more talents for our clubs and national teams.”

The Aliguma Foundation is a charitable organization, founded in 2017, with a primary goal to change lives through sports and enterprise.

ABOUT ALIGUMA FOUNDATION

Started: 2017

Founder: Ritah Aliguma

Projects: Acholi Quarters Playground, Ndi Mwana – The Cry Of A Girl Child, What A Ball Can Do, Annual Banda Slums Soccer Tournament, Aliguma Foundation Soccer Academy, Aliguma Foundation Sports & Empowerment Centre – Masindi, Say No To Abuse, Back To School, Rocks & Crafts Works.

Partners: Uefa Foundation For Children – SREP, UNHCR, Rotary, Wopi Boston International, Friends of Aliguma Foundation – USA, AIPS, Italian Embassy, Standard Chartered Bank and Nigerian International Ola Aina.

Memorable Moment: Hosting Uefa boss Aleksander Čeferin (March 14-15, 2023)