FUFA has confirmed the participation of Uganda beach soccer team (Sand Cranes) in the annual Regional Championship –COPA Dar Es Salaam to be hosted by Tanzania in December.
This was unveiled by FUFA Executive member Ronnie Kalema while opening a five day FIFA Beach soccer refereeing course at the FUFA Technical Centre, Njeru on Tuesday. A total of 27 participants (referees and assessors) are taking part in the course that has also attracted four female referees and six from foreign countries that make up the CECAFA Region.
According to Kalema, the main aim of the course is to enable referees to correctly interpret and apply the Laws of the Game during local and international assignments. Italian FIFA Instructor Michele Conti who is the facilitator of the course commended FUFA for championing the development of the game –having already got four beach soccer international referees.
“Remember that refereeing is a big part of the game’s progress. I want to see you put in place what you have studied for the good of the game and for your own. Fufa is committed to supporting beach soccer growth in the country especially through high-level capacity building programmes aimed at developing the referees in line with FUFA’s mission of Developing, Promoting and Protecting football for all,” noted Kalema, a former FIFA referee and head of referees at Fufa.
In the same way, FIFA beach soccer referee Ivan Kintu Bayige has been appointed to officiate at the 2019 COPA LAGOS Beach Soccer tournament in November in Nigeria. Bayige will be appearing at the tournament for the second time.
The course is also part of the preparations for next year’s AFCON Beach Soccer finals to be hosted by Uganda. The Uganda National team-Sand Cranes will qualify automatically to participate in the tournament from which the best two teams will represent Africa in the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.
