Fifa president Gianni Infantino will meet senior football association leaders from across the region on a two-day working visit to Uganda next week.
The Federation of Uganda Football Associations said on Thursday Infantino will arrive in Kampala on 25th February, 2017 and will “share our personal visions for the continued development of our sport in your country”.
Infantino, elected in February last year, will possibly be accompanied by new Fifa secretary-general Fatma Samoura.
Fufa president Moses Magogo met Infantino for talks in Doha on Thursday where he made presentation on grassroots football during the FIFA Executive Summit.
“We are glad that the FIFA President Mr. Gianni Infantino will be our guest next week. It is good news for Ugandan football and a big sign that the future of the sport is becoming brighter and brighter each passing day. We believe the visit will bear fruits. The programme for the visit will be released at an appropriate time,” Communications Manager Ahmed Hussein said on the football governing body’s official website.
The FIFA boss will first grace the world football governing body’s executive summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, on February 21 and 23, and then fly to Harare, Zimbabwe to grace the COSAFA Presidency celebrations organized by ZIFA president Philip Chiyangwa before heading to Kigali later in the evening of February 24 before proceeding to Kampala the following day.
The statement said had Infantino was early looking forward to his visit to East Africa, “I am very pleased to confirm my visit. I will be arriving in Entebbe on 25th February 2017. I have no doubt that this visit will help us to lay foundations for further cooperation and to share our personal visions for the continued development of our sport in your country.”
Uganda is seen as one of the giants of African football even though the Cranes did not such a good account of themselves upon their return to the Afcon after an absence of 39 years.
But the buildup was even much less than ideal. Coach Milutin Sredojevic was owed for months on end, then treated adversarially for daring to ask for his wages. His initial preparatory programme was scratched, throwing a slander in his works.
More than that, though, the Cranes were unfortunate to be lumped in a group with two of the most successful teams. Between them, Egypt and Ghana boast 11 titles. As if that were not enough, Mali have been one of the more relatively successful Nations Cup teams, at least by second-tier standards. They have reached five semi-finals since 1994, and finished third twice.
