FUFA launched a newly rebranded women league on Thursday aimed at giving a face-lift to the domestic competition and also increase the level of competition among clubs.
The new league named the ‘FUFA Women Super League’ is in line with the just launched ‘Take Flight project’ that will help to revolutionize women’s football in various aspects.
While launching the new league, FUFA President Eng. Moses Magogo indicated that the Federation is always strategic in every invention made and believes this is a great step in improving women’s football in Uganda.
“It is another dawn for us as FUFA. Like we have always said, it is our vision is to become the number one footballing nation in Africa on and off the pitch. That can be done through development, funding, capacity building and protecting the game,” noted Magogo, who indicated that the FUFA Women Elite League which was introduced in 2015 played a big role but it is now time to make another step which is why there was creation of the new league.
“In 2013, our national team eliminated South Sudan but we decided to withdraw the team because we realized it was not proper to have a national team playing without a league and that is how we started the FUFA Women Elite League in 2015. The executive committee passed a new strategy called Take Flight and some of these changes are highlighted therein. We believe the new format brings about competition, improves the quality of the game and above all makes the teams better,” Magogo further noted.
The Take Flight project has four key pillars namely; increasing the involvement of women in football at all levels, increasing the number of girls playing football, creating revenue generating avenues for women football and improvement of women leagues and national teams.
The FUFA President also revealed that CAF is in the process of introducing a continental club competition in the near future and thus indicated that some of these changes are geared towards preparing teams for such competition.
“We may not have good teams to compete at the continent that is why we have decided to turn around the league to make it more competitive and more professional,” he explained.
How the new FUFA Super League will be played
The new league that starts on November 2, 2019 will have eight (8) teams that finished in the top four positions of either group (Elizabeth and Victoria) in the regular season.
The league will be played on a three-leg basis with home and away fixtures and the winner on aggregate between two teams over the two legs will host the third leg while the bottom two teams at the end of the season get relegated to the FUFA Women Elite League whose top two teams will win promotion.
The new comers and the rest of the team that finished outside top four will continue to play in the League.
To play in the FUFA Women Super League, the teams will be subjected to a mandatory club licensing process in the areas of sporting, legal and structure administration and infrastructure among others and in case any of the teams fails to meet the club licensing standards, the team(s) that finished outside the top four positions in either group will be considered.
The FUFA Women Elite League will have teams that finished outside the top four positions last season plus the newly promoted teams. These include; Ajax Queens, Asubo Gafford Ladies, She Makerere, Isra Soccer Academy, Bugiri Town View, Dynamic SS, Rinnes, Lango Queens and the 8 regional winners; Tooro Queens, Maroons, Wakiso Hills, Bunyaruguru, Paidha Women, Vision FC, Savior and Amuria.
Last season top four positions:
Elizabeth Group: Kampala Queens, UCU Lady Cardinals (champions), Olila High School, Uganda Martyrs High School Lubaga
Victoria Group: Kawempe Muslim Ladies, Lady Doves WFC, She Corporate WFC, Muteesa I Royal University
