Uganda Football Team Pulls Out Of CHAN Tournament Over Finances

Due to a lack of funding, Uganda's national football team, the Cranes, withdrew from the African Nations Championship event, a top official informed AFP on Wednesday.

The competition is scheduled to take place in Algeria next month, but Moses Magogo, head of the Federation of Uganda Football Associations, announced that the Ugandan squad would not be attending since the government had not provided the promised cash.

"A hard decision was taken to pull the Cranes out of CHAN finals because without funds there is no other available option," Magogo said.

"It's a very disappointing situation especially (for) the players, the coaches that have made this journey to the finals and to the fans but this is a decision we took... painfully" he added.

An AFP query for comments received no response from the finance ministry. Uganda has withdrawn from sporting events in the past owing to budgetary difficulties.

Due to a shortage of funds, the U-23 men's football team withdrew from the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in October of this year.

After initially being unable to pay their hotel fee, the Ugandan national basketball team ran the risk of being expelled from the AfroBasket finals in Rwanda in September 2021.

In response to reports that officials at the government-run National Council of Sports requested payments in order to deliver budgeted cash to national sports organizations, Uganda's parliament established a committee to look into the organization.