BY JUMA ALI
The Federation of Uganda Basketball Associations (FUBA) has reached a huge landmark on Wednesday 20th March after signing a Multi-Billion deal with BetPawa, the first of its kind in history of the game in Uganda.
The deal will last 3 years and is in 2 phases. First, the Women’s National Team (Gazelles) and Men’s National Team (Silverbacks) shall receive Ush 2.6 Billion to cover training, travel, accommodation and supplement the team’s budget.
Secondly, for every game that the Gazelles and Silverbacks play and win, all of them and the officials shall get Ush 150,000 Locker Room bonus from the sponsor. That is more than 1.5 million per game.
Basketball was introduced in Uganda in 1962 and FUBA was established in 1963, during all this time, there has never been a sponsor for the National team, and that partnership is the first, which says a lot about the growth of the game in the country and the recognition on the international scene.
Uganda National teams were unranked until when the National Team Committee was appointed in 2012 which stirred the teams to the different achievements they have had thus far including qualification for 3 consecutive Afrobasket tournaments for the Silverbacks and 2 Afrobasket tournaments for the Gazelles.
The Silverbacks are now ranked 81st in the world and 12th in Africa. The Gazelles are 59th in the world and 9th in Africa. They were also named the most improved team in 2023, after their outstanding performances at the 2023 Women’s Afrobasket in Kigali.
According to FUBA CEO Marcus Kwikiriza, the deal with BetPawa started 9 months ago and to see it get over the hump is very much exciting news for the Basketball fans and Uganda at large.
“It will be great to see the kids in Uganda playing basketball just because they want to be like you” Spencer Okach, Chief Brand Officer BetPawa said to the athletes.
“If there’s one thing we don’t want to hear about anymore is, talent no being able to express who they really are because of financial challenges”
“Uganda for us is a very special country and you the athletes of Uganda are very special. It is the first time for BetPawa brand to sponsor in the same country 2 different sports, football and basketball. For us it’s clear, we are here because the talents are in Uganda” Ntudi Mouyelo Chief Commercial Office, BetPawa on why BetPawa chose to partner with FUBA.
He further went on to express his expectations from the athletes, and the Federation.
“I think you don’t realize how important you are. you’re making the youth dream, they all dream to be like you, to wear that jersey, to be future champions. The challenge that I’m giving to you all the players, the Federation and the ministry is to demonstrate that this investment will bring the Gazelles and Silverbacks to higher ranks in Africa and the world”
“We have had tough times, we believe that we should be one of the premier teams on the continent but lack of preparation which is a result of lack of sufficient resources had caused us to falter in tournaments when we shouldn’t have and with partnership which has come on board today with BetPawa puts us in a different level of comfort and gives us the ability to compete with everybody because we’ll have the capacity to prepare which is a problem we have previously had” Albert Ahabwe, the Silverbacks Team managed on how much the deal with BetPawa means for the National teams.
Albert further added on the possibility of other brands coming on board to partner with FUBA.
“Nobody shops from a closed store, this shop is open for business now as we have showed. It is open for business because it has attracted a brand as big as BetPawa then the others come to follow what has BetPawa seen here that we haven’t seen but also most importantly it allows us to perform, to have more results and once you have more results, you’re out there more frequently then other brands will want to come in to share some of that success” he said.
According to state minister for sports, Ogwang, sports is all about business and he appeals all federation sports to take sports as a business which will help to facilitate the federation activities.
Bernard Ogwel, who was once a vice president of FUBA and FUFA, thanked the betpawa for this wonderful deal and he is very confident that this deal will help the federation to grow high.
The historical deal was witnessed by state minister for Sports, Hon. Peter Ogwang, General Secretary of NCS, Bernard Ogwel, MD of betpawa, Mr. Allan Tumushabe, Silver backs manager, Albert Ahabwe and FUBA President, Nasser Sserunjogi among others.
This will be another federation where betpawa injects a huge sum of money after FUFA where Big League, Futsal League and FUFA Drum are covered and Tennis.
