‘We Are Greatly Satisfied With The Works’-FUFA Team Applauds Hamis Kiggundu, To Present Nakivubo Stadium For East Africa AFCON 2027 Bid

Uganda Football Association(FUFA) has applauded Hamis Kiggundu for the great work so far done in re-developing Nakivubo Stadium to modern standards.

The FUFA team made the comments while inspecting Nakivubo Stadium as they prepare to present it (Nakivubo Stadium) as one of the three stadiums to host games if East Africa’s bid to host the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2027 is accepted by the Confederation Of African Football.

For the bid to be accepted, CAF tasked the East African governments to invest money into the construction and or renovation of the required stadiums, which the federation can’t handle on its own.

With all the East African governments through their heads of state giving the nod for the joint bid all that is left is a CAF inspection of the proposed infrastructure in all three countries to determine their capacity to host the games.

Following the development, on Thursday a delegation from FUFA led by FUFA third vice president Florence Nakiwala Kiyingi toured Nakivubo to access the ongoing construction works and what remains for it to be open for competition.

Nakiwala was accompanied on tour by FUFA Executive Committee members Decolas Kizza, Rogers Mulindwa, Ronnie Kalema, and CAF-certified licensing official Sumaiah Hood.

Ham Enterprises General Manager Edward Nakibinge led the tour alongside engineers Christopher Omara and Ivan Ssewankambo.

Following their visit, Nakiwala said they are now going to continuously engage the Nakivubo stadium engineers to ensure all the remaining works conform to the required standards ahead of the CAF inspection.

She said their visit meant they had enrolled the stadium management into a sub-committee under FUFA which they will engage with from time to time to advise them on how to deliver a good finished product. She thanked the developer and the government for their efforts in improving the country’s infrastructure.

“We are expected to show our best as a country, and we have already floated three pitches and we are working back-to-back to ensure that all facilities including aviation, hotels, and the rest of the infrastructure will make AFCON 2027 a phenomenal success.

“We are greatly satisfied with the works here and we have been assured that we shall have a usable stadium by the end of the year. We have come to advise them and to put them on alert so that they speed up the work to ensure what is missing is worked on in time for the facility to pass the CAF test,” Nakiwala stated.

“We call upon all Ugandans to offer useful ideas to ensure the available facilities in whatever location can be put to good use because there isn’t much land, especially in developing.

The Ham Enterprises chairman welcomed the FUFA delegation and said they have always wanted them to have an input in the ongoing works. He said the hardest part of the construction was now done and what remains is a small bit that will be finalized soon. He said they were working to complete the work and hosting matches by the end of this year.

“We are ready to work with FUFA and to take all the advice they will offer so that we deliver a world-class facility that will serve Ugandans and the government to their satisfaction. We are ready to make structural adjustments to accommodate all the needs,” Nakibinge said.

Kalema said they were going to discuss with the stadium management to ensure they add another set of drFUFAessing rooms which can be used in case the facility is to host back-to-back matches on the same day, one after the other, like it always happens in AFCON matches.

“We are also going to advise them to create more rooms for technology, otherwise the other works are looking good,” Kalema noted.

The stadium management will also ensure that other amenities like press boxes, a VAR room, a media center, and good access controls separating the VVIPs, the VIPs

“The stadium has integrated all provisions to accommodate several needs including press boxes and other amenities to accommodate any advancements in technology,” Omara noted.

“We did thorough critical thinking to ensure the stadium meets the FUFA, CAF, and FIFA standards. We have a standard size of 105m by 68m which meets the FIFA standards plus all major amenities, we have managed to ensure that every construction procedure has been technically supervised by all experts,”

“We have also engaged international firms to assist us in the lighting simulations and we have already done certainties on how much lux we need to give us an approximation of daylight, to accommodate even the night games,” Omara stated.

More About Nakivubo Stadium

After completion, Nakivubo will feature a gym, medical facility, restaurants and other amenities with several sports disciplines such as football, volleyball, athletics and boxing, among others.

Built to modern standards, the 40,000-seater ‘War Memorial Stadium will be a reminder of the old good days for football lovers.

“We have followed modern stadium trends from all over the world in whatever we have included in the construction of this facility because we didn’t want visiting teams to have excuses with anything regarding the facility. So, from the turf to the dressing rooms to the stands and everything else will be completed to international standards,” Ham said.

Nakivubo will be a multipurpose stadium making it Kampala’s most famous and iconic ground with unique amenities like lifts for the physically handicapped, cinema halls, an area for indoor games like Table Tennis and Pool, VIP boxes which can be booked by a group of people on top of ordinary sitting, VVIP and executive boxes on the first tier. The executive boxes seat about 20 people each with extra amenities like self-contained lavatories, sofa sets, a conference room, and a resting area. Each category of fans will have its own entry and exit points.

Additionally, the stadium will also have multi-level parking able to accommodate over 1,000 cars on top of other amenities like restaurants, gyms, and facilities for people with disabilities (PWDs).

Behind the goalposts on one end will be a netball court while on the other a basketball court. There will be no running track as had earlier been planned following architectural changes.

The home and visiting teams will have a medical section room each, on top of dressing rooms that can seat up to 30 people each. There are also enough showers that can be used by all players of both sides on top of two referees’ rooms and lockers, and change rooms for all stadium support staff including ball boys who also have their rooms and amenities just like the kit’s men. There is also an allowance for a gym and a boxing ring under the stands.

Parking for service vehicles like ambulances and those of the VIPs are catered for including residential rooms for 80 people for teams that might want to stay for residential training.

The stadium will also have a big screen and floodlights as well as security cameras installed around the stadium.

Here Is The Pictorial As FUFA Team Inspected Nakivubo Stadium