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UGANDACOFFEE
FOOTBALLCUP
ByMs.MildredMbabazi
T
he Uganda Coffee Federation (UCF) held an inaugural
football competition on 27th September 2014 at
MakerereUniversityBusinessschool pitch. Inacollective
drive to promote “EverythingCoffee” to the youth of Uganda,
theFederation revisited theconcept of using football as away
of interacting and networkingwith the youth inUganda.
It has to be appreciated that before liberalisation of the coffee
industry, Coffee Football Club was a household name in the
first tier of Uganda Football andwon theUganda cup in 1971
and revisiting those memories with the ultimate aim of re-
establishing the samewas indeed refreshing.
Additionally, hosting the tournament at the pitch of the
institutionof learningaimedat targeting the youthatMakerere
Business School worked wonders as they turned up in big
numbers especially for the finals in the evening.
Five teams entered this year’s competition; Ugacof, Savannah
Commodities Limited, Kampala Domestic Stores, Kibinge
Coffee Farmers Association and Nsangi Coffee Farmers
Association. The players comprised of both permanent
employees and casual workers of the above companies.
At the end of the day, Ugacof and Nsangi Coffee Farmers
Association reached the finals. The game ended in a nil all
drawduring normal time after whichwe had a thrillingpenalty
shootout which ended 5-3 in favour of Ugacof.
Themost important part of theeventwas notwhat tookplace
on the pitch but rather the coffee message that students of
MakerereBusinessSchool listened to fromdifferent speakers,
to banners and songs, coffee as a theme dominated the
football tournament and the Federation looks forward to
expanding this initiative to includemorestakeholders in future.
