The government of Uganda has extended Shs1bn to the Federation of Uganda football associations (FUFA) to promote the CHAN 2024 tournament that officially kicks off this Saturday in Tanzania.
This was revealed by the state minister for sports Peter Ogwang on Wednesday, July 30, 2025 while presenting a status statement to parliament about Uganda’s preparedness to co-host the tournament alongside Kenya and Tanzania.
“The local organizing committee has put in place measures to increase public awareness about the tournament beyond billboards. This includes allocating Shs1bn to FUFA to run promotions on tv, radios, digital platforms, influencers, social media and other digital channels plus bizindaalo,” part of the minister’s statement reads.
The Shadow minister for sports Kayemba Geoffrey questioned the time left for the Shs1bn to be put to purpose.
“You have given FUFA Shs1bn but in which period. I think this would have come three months back to start activations and every sort of marketing,” noted Kayemba.
Bugiri municipality MP Asuman Basalirwa called for sufficiency in utilizing the money allocated to FUFA for promotion.
“And I am glad to hear that Shs1bn has been given to FUFA to do the publicity. Even if the time between now and the opening of the games is very short, we only hope and pray that the one billion will be used sufficiently to create publicity,” he noted.
Ogwang told parliament that they had hoped that the USD13m extended to CAF would cater for the organization which is not and the government has taken a decision to raise money locally to support and cover the deficit.
The speaker warned that CHAN is a precursor to Afcon 2027. The way we host CHAN will determine whether we are ready to host AFCON 2027.
Meanwhile, Susan Amero, the Amuria district Woman MP called on the Speaker to ensure that other sports are treated the same way Football is treated in terms of government funding.
“Other sports have sold this country internationally on meagre budgets. How I wish they also get some reasonable funding like football,” she said before thanking the Speaker for spearheading the increase of the sports budget.
Meanwhile Uganda police force spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke has assured fans of maximum security during the tournament. They have also outlined dos and don’ts during the tournament.
“We know about the attacks on fans on their way out of the stadium by goons. We have planned for this and we assure you, security will be tight,” he told the media.
The CHAN 2024 tournament officially kicks off this Saturday, August 2nd, 2025 in Tanzania before Uganda faces Algeria at Namboole stadium on Monday night in their opening fixture.
