Football is a popular sport worldwide, yet Uganda's senior teams have always had to contend with not being good enough to win several regional and continental competitions.
Worldwide competitions still remain a long shot away from Uganda's dreams.
Lately, football academies, youth football programs and soccer clinics are springing up allover the country. The football professionals say they are moving to groom football talent and fill up the gaps in Uganda's team structures.
Mujib Kasule, the Director of Proline Academy, says that Uganda had neglected the youth structures, which would let down senior teams in future.
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Proline currently manages about 300 students.
Ivan Kakembo, the Director of Uganda Youth Soccer Academy (UYSA) that manages about 200 youths, says that even with challenges of lack of proper training fields, the academies are dedicated to play their part.
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The Kampala Kids League, one of the earliest initiatives into professional grooming of young sports talent, has shown that these gaps can be filled. Emma Mulumba, the Deputy Director, says that three of their students have already signed on the national Under-17 football team.
Edgar Watson, the Chief Executive Officer for the Federation of Uganda Football Association (FUFA), says that in the past, the federation had no channel through which it would assist these youth programs.
Watson, who is also the Director of Edgar's Academy, adds that now that the Uganda Youth Football Association is going to become a member of the federation, it will receive assistance to early grooming right into the senior teams.
The academies, which enroll boys and girls as young as 3 years, look to assisting under-privileged children, who they sign on free of charge. While at the academy, such children also receive formal education paid for by the academy. Kasule says that such children constitute about 95 percent of Proline's students.
For parents who can afford however, at Proline one pays 40, 000Ushs for a child for each holiday training session and 200, 000UShs for a six-month session. At UYSA, well-to-do children pay 100, 000UShs in training fees annually.
The academies also scout for scholarships, both in formal education and further football training, in the US and UK for the young talents.
