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Museveni’s Sh12m bail out for cash-strapped Ugandan club

By AFP April 8th, 2016 1 min read

A financial pledge from President Yoweri Museveni will help Uganda football club SC Villa fulfil a CAF Confederation Cup fixture against FUS Rabat in Morocco on Friday.

The long-serving head of state has promised the cash-strapped Kampala club $120,000 (about Sh12 million) toward the costs of the two-leg, round-of-16 tie.

Villa are taking only 16 players, two coaches and three officials to the Moroccan capital for the first leg as they attempt to become the first Ugandan qualifiers for the mid-competition play-offs.

In the previous qualifying round of the second-tier African club competition, the Ugandan outfit slashed costs by making a 25-hour bus and ferry journey to Zanzibar.

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Travelling by road from Central Africa to Morocco in the north west of the continent was not practical, though, and club president Ben Misagga has hailed the assistance of Museveni.

“I thank President Museveni for coming to our rescue with his financial offer,” the official told reporters in Kampala.

“We are flying the Ugandan flag in Africa. The kindness of the head of state is a massive morale boost and makes us even more determined to achieve a good result in Rabat.”

Seventeen of 56 football associations eligible to enter the Confederation Cup this year declined, largely due to financial constraints, and two clubs withdrew after the draw was made.