Airtel Rising Stars finals
September 4-7, Nakawa
After successful regional qualifier championships, all the eight regions of FUFA will field their cream in the national finals of the Airtel Rising Stars (ARS) U17 that gets underway this Wednesday till Saturday at the UITCand AGOA grounds in Nakawa and Bugolobi respectively.
Kampala region are the hosts of this year’s finals and will hope to defend their Boys national title when action gets underway.
Kampala recovered from a goal down to beat rivals Buganda region 5-4 in penalties after a 1-1 normal time draw during last year’s Boys national final at Buhinga stadium, Fort Portal in Kabalore district.
Buganda took lead through Leonard Katongole free kick but defender Emanuel Iga, also the tournament top scorer nodded home the equaliser in the closing stages of the game.
Ahead of the 8th edition finals, Kampala Boys select squad of 22 players entered camp on Saturday at Jevine hotel, Ndeeba and started training on Sunday at Lufula-Sendi grounds under Coach Simon Dungu.
The Girls select team of 26 players also started training at Kawempe Muslim SS under Coach Ayub Khalifan, who is also the national U17 Girls team newly appointed coach.
Kampala region head of delegation Peter Nkugwa is hopeful they will make use of home advantage to defend their Boys title and also clinch the Girls title from last year’s champions Kitara region, who beat Western region 4-2 in penalties after goalless stalemate in the final.
The national champions will get Shs7m cash prize wile the runners will get Shs5m both in Girls and Boys respectively courtesy of the tournament exclusive sports Airtel-Uganda.
