Ugandan football is slowly growing with many clubs seeing new partnerships help them to bridge the gap between poverty and middle income status.
Some of the teams in Ugandan football that have benefited from strategic partnerships have been KCCA FC, Vipers FC, SC Villa among others.
For many of these clubs, such sponsorship’s or partnerships have created the muscle power that has seen them able to pay their players and facilitate the day to day running of activities of what is becoming a very expensive sport.
Having taken over the broadcasting rights for the Uganda Premier League, the head of marketing at StarTimes has come out to suggest that they will never allow any direct competitor to have any share of business with UPL, FUFA or the clubs.
This was revealed by Aldrine Nsubuga, the Vice President Marketing of StarTimes who categorically stated that everything had been enclosed in the contract they had signed with the Federation.
“It will be a material breach of contract if FUFA, UPL or clubs went, talked to anybody understood to be a direct competitor interested them in a property without our knowledge,” said Nsubuga before he cited an example of Kwese TV dealing say with Kirinya Jinja SS
It should be however noted that during the previous campaigns in which Azam television was the broadcaster and sponsor of the league, StarTimes were the sponsors for KCCA FC, SC Villa among others and no objection was brought forward.
The clause has invoked reactions from some clubs in particular Express FC, Nyamityobora and Kirinya Jinja SS who insist its unfair.
“There isn’t a single chance that StarTimes can accept, agree, allow, compromise, understand where Kwese can go to Kirinya because it’s a commercial property and do deals and Kwese is on the shirt of Kirinya. I will tell you here, absolutely no.” – Nsubuga said
Sources indicate the Red Eagles were already in negotiations with Azam TV over a sponsorship deal and with this in place, it can’t happen.
If StarTimes is actually coming on board to help the game of football in Uganda to grow then why are we seeing them blocking clubs from getting partnerships from those that could provide the much needed funds to help these clubs grow into something.
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