KAMPALA —The Buganda Kingdom has set a date for the 2020 Masaza Cup Tournament finals.
The announcement was made by Kingdom’s Minister of Sports, Leisure, and Recreation Hon. Henry Moses Ssekabembe Kiberu at the Bulange Gardens in Mengo.
The final game will be played on Saturday 6th March 2021 at St Mary’s Stadium, Kitende with a limited number of fans.
“The postponement of the final game is due to the accumulated injuries of players as a result of a congested fixtures that had been scheduled,” Ssekabembe disclosed further saying that:
“Regardless of the Global pandemic, we have soldiered on to have the 2020 Masaza Cup tournament played and I would like to extend commendation to all the players, organizing teams, media, and all the other partners and sponsors who have made this possible.”
“We are still in talks with the FUFA team to agree on the maximum number of fans to accommodate in the stadium for the final game, all actions strictly following the SOP’s as issued by the Ministry of Health,” he added.
Immaculate Ngulumi, the Chief Manager Branding and Marketing at Centenary Bank noted that, “As Centenary bank, we are pleased to be a part of this tournament, as we have been for the past years. We are proud to associate with the Buganda Kingdom, it’s people and its activities, and therefore pledge to continue supporting the Masaza Cup to the sustained growth of sports and culture.”
“This tournament is important to us because we believe in its impact on our youth, especially in developing their talent and setting them up for league opportunities, ensuring their prosperity and improving their livelihoods in future, she remarked.
The winners of the 2020 Masaza Cup Final will go home with UGX 12 million, a gold medal for each player, and a trophy; while the 1st and 2nd runners up will win UGX 9 and 7 million, respectively.
Coming to the final and third-place play-off matches, 93 goals have been scored with Gomba’s Charles Bbaale as the top scorer with 7 goals so far. Gomba, the four-time record winners of the tournament will face off against Buddu, champions of the tournament in 2016 and the 2020 group stage match in the Muganzirwazza contest.
Gomba eliminated Busiro 5-4 in post-match penalties after ejecting Bugerere 2-1 in the quarter finals. Buddu, on the other hand got rid of Mawokota 2-0 in the quarter finals and 1-0 against Bulemeezi in the semi-finals. The Busiro duo of Arafat Usama and Gerald Ogwet has four goals so far.
The tournament organizing committee chairman Mr. Ssejjengo expressed gratitude to Buganda Kingdom, all sponsors, media and other partners who ensured that the group stage, quarter final and semi-final matches were completed successfully at the FUFA Technical Centre, Njeru amid the Coronavirus pandemic.
“We had a total of 540 people tested for the Cornavirus. 360 of these were team players and officials with the rest members of the organizing team and the media” Ssejjengo disclosed.
