Sports minister inspects international standards for Namboole stadium

Ogwang, who is in Algeria as part of the delegation at the Africa Nations Championships (CHAN) which Uganda Cranes is competing in.

The minister has been meeting fellow colleagues in the African football space and could not hide his profound admiration for the quality and standards of Algerian sporting facilities.

While visiting Annaba City Stadium, Ogwang admired the quality of the well-groomed grass at the stadium and promised that Uganda’s national stadium currently under refurbishment works will be of same standard.

Namboole is expected to be handed over by July this year.

“It is the quality and the well-kept grass at Annaba city stadium that has swept me off my feet. This is the kind of grass that Namboole Stadium will have by July this year”, he tweeted.

“This morning, I and my colleague the Sports Minister of Ivory Coast were hosted by the Annaba City Mayor at the city stadium in Algeria. We, later on, addressed the media on the ongoing CHAN tournament”.

Namboole has been out of bounds to the general public since May 2019 after Confederation of African Federation (CAF) and Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) disqualified the venue from hosting the 2022 world cup qualifiers and any other international football game, saying the facility is substandard.

Then Covid-19 struck and the Ministry of Health turned the facility into a reception center.

After the pandemic, the UPDF Engineering Brigade has since been refurbishing the facility to a worthy standard.

Uganda Cranes registered a stalemate in their opening group game match against neighbours Democratic Republic of Congo. They face table leaders Senegal on Wednesday.