The Uganda national football team have represented Uganda in men's international football since the first international match in 1926. It is controlled by Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA), the governing body for football in Uganda, which is affiliated with CAF and comes under the global jurisdiction of world football's governing body FIFA. Uganda competes in the three major international tournaments contested by African nations: the FIFA World Cup, Africa Cup of Nations and African Nations League.
History
The Uganda Cranes made their debut on 1 May 1926 against Kenya, drawing 1–1. In 1962, they qualified for their Africa Cup of Nations debut in the third edition of the tournament, which included only 4 teams. In the semi-finals, the Cranes were defeated and eliminated by the United Arab Republic (2–1), and then lost the third-place match against Tunisia (3–0).
The Cranes returned to the Africa Cup of Nations in 1974, where they were eliminated in the first round following 2 defeats against Egypt and Zambia and a draw against Ivory Coast. In 1976, they were eliminated in the first round, being defeated by Ethiopia, Egypt and Guinea.
In the 1978 Africa Cup of Nations, the Cranes finished second in the group stages defeating the Republic of Congo (3–1) and Morocco (3–0) and lost 3–1 to Tunisia. In the semi-finals they eliminated Nigeria (2–1), and in the finals they were defeated by Ghana (2–0).
In 2017 the Cranes qualified for the African Cup of Nations again after 39 years. They finished the tournament in the first round after two consecutive 1–0 losses to Ghana and Egypt and a 1–1 draw against Mali.
In the qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup, the Cranes progressed to the second round with a 4–0 aggregate win against Togo, and were drawn into a group with Egypt, Ghana and the Republic of Congo. They finished the group with 2 0–0 draws against Ghana, a win and a draw against the Republic of Congo and a victory against Egypt followed by a defeat at the home of the Pharaohs. The 9 points won were not enough for Uganda to qualify against the 13 of the Egyptians who finished first in the standings.
In the qualifiers for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, the Cranes cruised through qualifiers against Tanzania, Cape Verde and Lesotho. In the competition proper, a 2–0 victory against DR Congo meant that the Uganda Cranes had won their first match in the competition for 41 years. In the other 2 games of the group Uganda obtained a draw against Zimbabwe (1–1) and a defeat against the hosts Egypt (2–0) qualifying in second place, to be eliminated in the round of 16 by Senegal (1–0). They qualified for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations after South Sudan beat Congo 3–2 on November 14, 2024.
Team image
Kits and crest
Kit suppliers
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left"
|-
!Kit supplier
!Period
!Ref
|-
|Admiral||1926–1978 ||
|-
|Orbit||1992–1994 ||
|-
|Erima||1998–1999 ||
|-
|Hummel||2000–2006||
|-
|Adidas||2007–2017||
|-
|Erreà||2017–2018||
|-
|Mafro||2018–2021||
|-
|Umbro||2021–2024||
|-
|Janzi||2024–present||
|}
Colours
thumb|Uganda shirt for 2016
Uganda's traditional home colours are red shirts, black shorts and red or black socks. The team has periodically worn an all-red kit.
Home stadium
thumb|right|Mandela National Stadium prior to redevelopment
The Mandela National Stadium was closed for renovation in 2019 after the outbreak of COVID-19 after it failed to reach the minimum standards required by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to host international matches. In 2020, the stadium was blacklisted from hosting football games due to its substandard condition.
thumb|right|The new redeveloped Mandela National Stadium. View from Section 1 with only the expanded roof and seating yet to be completed
Results and fixtures
The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.
2025
2026
Coaching staff
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Position !! Staff
|-
| Head coach || Paul Put
|-
| Assistant coach || Sam Ssimbwa
|-
| Performance manager || Sven De Wilde
|-
| Goalkeeper coach || Gery Oste
|-
| Physical coach || Mathieu Denis
|-
| Physiotherapist & Fitness coach || Arthur Naudts
|-
| Video analyst || Jelle Sevenhant
|-
| Team Doctor || Arnaud Depraetere
|}
Coaching history
:Interim coaches are listed in italics.
- Alan Rogers (1965–1966)
- Robert Kiberu (19??–1969, 1988–1989)
- Burkhard Pape (1969–1972)
- David Otti (1973–1974)
- Otto Westerhoff (1974–1975)
- Peter Okee (1976–1981, 1983)
- Jaberi Bidandi Ssali (1982)
- George Mukasa (1984–1985)
- Barnabas Mwesiga (1986–1988)
- Polly Ouma (1989–1995)
- Timothy Ayieko (1995–1996)
- Asuman Lubowa (1996–1999)
- Paul Hasule (1999, 2001–2003)
- Harrison Okagbue (1999–2001)
- Pedro Pasculli (2003)
- Leo Adraa (2003–2004)
- Mike Mutebi (2004)
- Mohammed Abbas (2004–2006)
- Csaba László (2006–2008)
- Bobby Williamson (2008–2013)
- Milutin Sredojević (2013–2017)
- Moses Basena and Fred Kajoba (2017)
- Sébastien Desabre (2017–2019)
- Abdallah Mubiru (2019, 2021)
- Johnny McKinstry (2019–2021)
- Milutin Sredojević (2021–2023)
- Morley Beyekwaso (2023)
- Paul Put (2023–present)
Players
Current squad
The following players were called up for the friendly matches against Tanzania and Madagascar on 5 and 8 June 2026, respectively.
Caps and goals are correct as of 30 December 2025, after the match against Nigeria.
Recent call-ups
The following players have been called up in the last 12 months.
<!--<sup>DEC</sup> Refused to join the team after the call-up.<br />
<sup>INJ</sup> Withdrew due to an injury.<br />
<sup>PRE</sup> Preliminary squad.<br />
<sup>RET</sup> Has retired from international association football.<br />
<sup>SUS</sup> Suspended from the team.<br />
<sup>WD</sup> Withdrew.<br />-->
Individual records
:Players in bold are still active with Uganda.
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
|+Most appearances
|-
!width=30px|Rank
! style="width:150px;"|Player
!width=50px|Caps
!width=50px|Goals
! style="width:100px;"|Career
|-
| 1 ||align=left| Godfrey Walusimbi || 105 || 3 || 2009–2019
|-
| 2 ||align=left| Emmanuel Okwi || 95 || 28 || 2009–2023
|-
| 3 ||align=left| Simeon Masaba || 88 || 6 || 2002–2013
|-
| 4 ||align=left| Denis Onyango || 87 || 0 || 2005–present
|-
| 5 ||align=left| Tony Mawejje || 86 || 8 || 2003–2018
|-
| 6 || align=left| Khalid Aucho || 83 || 2 || 2013–present
|-
| 7 ||align=left| Hassan Wasswa || 81 || 0 || 2006–2019
|-
| 8 ||align=left| Farouk Miya || 79 || 23 || 2014–2023
|-
| 9 ||align=left| Andrew Mwesigwa || 75 || 7 || 2003–2014
|-
|10 ||align=left| Geoffrey Massa || 72 || 22 || 2005–2017
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
|+Top goalscorers
|-
!width=30px|Rank
! style="width:150px;"|Player
!width=50px|Goals
!width=50px|Caps
!width=50px|Ratio
! style="width:100px;"|Career
|-
| 1 ||align=left| Emmanuel Okwi || 28 || 95 || || 2009–2023
|-
| 2 ||align=left| Ali Kitonsa || 25 || 30 || || 1961–1972
|-
| 3 ||align=left| Farouk Miya || 23 || 79 || || 2014–2023
|-
| 4 ||align=left| Geoffrey Massa || 22 || 72 || || 2005–2017
|-
| 5 ||align=left| Majid Musisi || 20 || 29 || || 1987–2000
|-
| 6 ||align=left| Hassan Mubiru || 18 || 63 || || 1998–2007
|-
| 7 ||align=left| David Obua || 16 || 36 || || 2003–2011
|-
| 8 ||align=left| Geoffrey Sserunkuma || 14 || 54 || || 2002–2017
|-
| 9 ||align=left| Brian Umony || 12 || 36 || || 2009–2015
|-
| 10 ||align=left| Jackson Mayanja || 10 || 27 || || 1988–1999
|-
|}
Competitive record
FIFA World Cup
{| class="wikitable" width="100%" style="font-size:90%; text-align:center;"
!colspan=9|FIFA World Cup record
! rowspan="41" width="1%" |
!colspan=7|Qualification record
|-
! width="15%" |Year
! width="15%" |Round
! width="5%" |Position
! width="5%" |
! width="5%" |
! width="5%" |*
! width="5%" |
! width="5%" |
! width="5%" |
! width="5%" |
! width="5%" |
! width="5%" |
! width="5%" |
! width="5%" |
! width="5%" |
|-
|1930 to 1958
|colspan=8|Not a FIFA member
|colspan=6|Not a FIFA member
|-
|1962 to 1974
|colspan=8|Did not enter
|colspan=6|Did not enter
|-
| 1978
|colspan=8|Did not qualify
|2
|1
|0
|1
|3
|4
|-
| 1982
|colspan=8|Withdrew
|colspan=6|Withdrew
|-
| 1986
|colspan=8 rowspan=2|Did not qualify
|2
|1
|0
|1
|1
|3
|-
| 1990
|2
|1
|0
|1
|2
|3
|-
| 1994
|colspan=8|Withdrew during qualifying
|colspan=6|Withdrew during qualifying
|-
| 1998
|colspan=8 rowspan=8|Did not qualify
|2
|0
|0
|2
|1
|5
|-
| 2002
|2
|0
|1
|1
|4
|7
|-
| 2006
|12
|3
|2
|7
|10
|18
|-
| 2010
|6
|3
|1
|2
|8
|9
|-
| 2014
|6
|2
|2
|2
|5
|6
|-
| 2018
|8
|4
|3
|1
|7
|2
|-
| 2022
|6
|2
|3
|1
|3
|2
|-
| 2026
|10
|6
|0
|4
|14
|9
|-
| 2030
|colspan=9 rowspan=2 |To be determined
|colspan="6" rowspan="2" | To be determined
|-
| 2034
|-
!Total||||||||||||||||
!58
!23
!12
!23
!58
!68
|}
Africa Cup of Nations
{| class="wikitable" width="50%" style="font-size:90%; text-align:center;"
!colspan=9|Africa Cup of Nations record
|-
! width="15%" |Year
! width="15%" |Round
! width="5%" |Position
! width="5%" |
! width="5%" |
! width="5%" |*
! width="5%" |
! width="5%" |
! width="5%" |
|-
| 1957||colspan=8 rowspan=2|Not affiliated to CAF
|-
| 1959
|- bgcolor="#9acdff"
| 1962||Fourth place||4th||2||0||0||2||1||5
|-
| 1963||colspan=8|Withdrew
|-
| 1965||colspan=8|Did not qualify
|-
| 1968||Group stage||8th||3||0||0||3||2||8
|-
| 1970||colspan=8 rowspan=2|Did not qualify
|-
| 1972
|-
| 1974||Group stage||6th||3||0||1||2||3||5
|-
| 1976||Group stage||8th||3||0||0||3||2||6
|-bgcolor="silver"
| 1978||Runners-up||2nd||5||3||0||2||9||7
|-
| 1980||colspan=8 rowspan=2|Withdrew
|-
| 1982
|-
| 1984||colspan=8 rowspan=3|Did not qualify
|-
| 1986
|-
| 1988
|-
| 1990||colspan=8|Withdrew
|-
| 1992 to 2015||colspan=8|Did not qualify
|-
| 2017||Group stage||13th||3||0||1||2||1||3
|-
| 2019||Round of 16||13th||4||1||1||2||3||4
|-
| 2021||colspan=8 rowspan=2|Did not qualify
|-
| 2023
|-
| 2025||Group stage
|21st
|3
|0
|1
|2
|3
|7
|-
|style="border: 3px solid red"| 2027||colspan=8|Qualified as co-hosts
|-
!Total || Runners-up || 8/35 || 26 || 4 || 4 || 18 || 24 || 45
|}
African Nations Championship
{| class="wikitable" width="50%" style="font-size:90%; text-align:center;"
!colspan=9|African Nations Championship record
|-
! width="15%" |Year
! width="15%" |Round
! width="5%" |Position
! width="5%" |
! width="5%" |
! width="5%" |*
! width="5%" |
! width="5%" |
! width="5%" |
|-
| 2009||colspan="8"|Did not qualify
|-
| 2011||rowspan="6"|Group stage||15th ||3||0||0||3||1||5
|-
| 2014||12th||3||1||1||1||3||4
|-
| 2016||12th||3||0||2||1||3||4
|-
| 2018||12th||3||0||1||2||1||4
|-
| 2020||14th||3||0||1||2||3||7
|-
| 2022 ||11th||3||1||1||1||2||3
|-
|style="border: 3px solid red"| 2024||Quarter-finals
|8th
|5
|2
|1
|2
|8
|7
|-
!Total!!Quarter-finals!! 7/8!!23!!4!!7!!12!!21!!34
|}
African Games
{| class="wikitable" width="50%" style="font-size:90%; text-align:center;"
|-
!Year||Round||Pld||W||D||L||GF||GA
|-
| 1965||6th place||5||1||1||3||10||14
|-
|1973–1987||colspan=7|Did not enter
|-
|Total||-||5||1||1||3||10||14
|}
CECAFA Cup
(1973–2023)
- CECAFA Cup – Gold medal 15 times
- CECAFA Cup – Silver medal 5 times
- CECAFA Cup – Bronze medal 7 times
Other tournaments
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
!Year
!Round
|-bgcolor=silver
| 1989 Peace and Friendship Cup||Runners-up
|-bgcolor=silver
| 1962 Ugandan Independence Tournament||Runners-up
|}
Head-to-head record
Completely updated and corrected per the cited source on 30 December 2025
{| class="sortable collapsible collapsed wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Against
! Played
! Won
! Drawn
! Lost
! GF
! GA
! GD
|- bgcolor="#d0ffd0" align="center"
|-
| align="left" | || 14 || 2 || 4 || 8 || 11 || 24 || −13
|-
| align="left" | || 8 || 3 || 2 || 3 || 10 || 10 || 0
|-
| align="left" | || 2 || 1 || 0 || 1 || 3 || 5 || −2
|-
| align="left" | || 2 || 0 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 3 || –2
|-
| align="left" | || 7 || 5 || 2 || 0 || 9 || 2 || +7
|-
| align="left" | || 8 || 1 || 5 || 2 || 4 || 6 || −2
|-
| align="left" | || 16 || 10 || 3 || 3 || 27 || 10 || +17
|-
| align="left" | || 7 || 1 || 3 || 3 || 7 || 14 || −7
|-
| align="left" | || 1 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 1 || −1
|-
| align="left" | || 4 || 3 || 0 || 1 || 3 || 1 || +2
|-
| align="left" | || 1 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 2 || 0 || +2
|-
| align="left" | || 3 || 2 || 0 || 1 || 2 || 4 || –2
|-
| align="left" | || 8 || 5 || 1 || 2 || 14 || 7 || +7
|-
| align="left" | || 14 || 5 || 2 || 7 || 10 || 23 || −13
|-
| align="left" | || 5 || 5 || 0 || 0 || 34 || 3 || +31
|-
| align="left" | || 1 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 2 || 1 || +1
|-
| align="left" | || 19 || 2 || 2 || 15 || 13 || 36 || −23
|-
| align="left" | || 5 || 4 || 0 || 1 || 12 || 4 || +8
|-
| align="left" | || 33 || 14 || 9 || 10 || 47 || 39 || +8
|-
| align="left" | || 2 || 0 || 1 || 1 || 0 || 1 || −1
|-
| align="left" | || 2 || 0 || 2 || 0 || 2 || 2 || 0
|-
| align="left" | || 13 || 3 || 6 || 4 || 10 || 13 || −3
|-
| align="left" | || 9 || 4 || 1 || 4 || 15 || 14 || +1
|-
| align="left" | || 2 || 2 || 0 || 0 || 3 || 0 || +3
|-
| align="left" | || 1 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 1 || 1 || 0
|-
| align="left" | || 1 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 2 || 2 || 0
|-
| align="left" | || 2 || 0 || 1 || 2 || 2 || 3 || –1
|-
| align="left" | || 5 || 1 || 2 || 2 || 5 || 7 || –2
|-
| align="left" | || 55 || 19 || 26 || 11 || 62 || 58 || +4
|-
| align="left" | || 2 || 1 || 1 || 0 || 3 || 1 || +2
|-
| align="left" | || 2 || 1 || 1 || 0 || 2 || 0 || +2
|-
| align="left" | || 5 || 3 || 2 || 0 || 8 || 0 || +8
|-
| align="left" | || 4 || 2 || 0 || 2 || 2 || 4 || −2
|-
| align="left" | || 3 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 6 || 6 || 0
|-
| align="left" | || 6 || 3 || 0 || 3 || 10 || 6 || +4
|-
| align="left" | || 29 || 12 || 8 || 9 || 33 || 30 || +3
|-
| align="left" | || 7 || 0 || 4 || 3 || 4 || 10 || −6
|-
| align="left" | || 3 || 3 || 0 || 0 || 6 || 0 || +6
|-
| align="left" | || 5 || 3 || 1 || 1 || 13 || 5 || +8
|-
| align="left" | || 5 || 2 || 0 || 3 || 7 || 12 || –5
|-
| align="left" | || 1 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 3 || 2 || +1
|-
| align="left" | || 2 || 1 || 0 || 1 || 5 || 3 || +2
|-
| align="left" | || 1 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 1 || −1
|-
| align="left" | || 10 || 5 || 2 || 3 || 14 || 9 || +5
|-
| align="left" | || 9 || 4 || 2 || 3 || 7 || 8 || –1
|-
| align="left" | || 35 || 15 || 11 || 9 || 43 || 26 || +17
|-
| align="left" | || 1 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 3 || 1 || +2
|-
| align="left" | || 2 || 0 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 3 || −2
|-
| align="left" | || 8 || 2 || 2 || 4 || 5 || 9 || −4
|-
| align="left" | || 3 || 3 || 0 || 0 || 8 || 2 || +6
|-
| align="left" | || 24 || 20 || 3 || 1 || 71 || 9 || +62
|-
| align="left" | || 8 || 0 || 3 || 5 || 11 || 16 || −5
|-
| align="left" | || 8 || 6 || 1 || 1 || 20 || 6 || +14
|-
| align="left" | || 24 || 12 || 8 || 4 || 35 || 20 || +15
|-
| align="left" | || 1 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 1 || 1 || 0
|-
| align="left" | || 62 || 33 || 18 || 11 || 101 || 56 || +45
|-
| align="left" | || 9 || 2 || 1 || 6 || 6 || 12 || −6
|-
| align="left" | || 6 || 0 || 0 || 6 || 2 || 19 || −17
|-
| align="left" | || 1 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0
|-
| align="left" | || 1 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 2 || 4 || –2
|-
| align="left" | || 1 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 2 || 2 || 0
|-
| align="left" | || 38 || 12 || 7 || 19 || 41 || 51 || -10
|-
| align="left" | ' || 1 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 1 || 2 || -1
|-
| align="left" | || 16 || 2 || 9 || 5 || 11 || 14 || −3
|-class="sortbottom"
| Total || 593 || 244 || 162 || 187 || 794 || 641 || +153
|}
Note: Country in italic is not a member of FIFA.
Source:
Honours
Continental
- CAF African Cup of Nations
- Runners-up (1): 1978
Regional
- CECAFA Cup
- Champions (15): 1973, 1976, 1977, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2003, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019
- Runners-up (5): 1974, 1982, 1994, 1995, 2000
- Third place (7): 1983, 1984, 1987, 1991, 2007, 2010, 2017
Friendly
- Gossage Cup / Challenge Cup (25): 1928, 1929, 1930, 1932, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1943, 1945, 1947, 1948, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1960 (shared), 1962, 1963, 1968, 1969, 1970
Awards
- African National Team of the Year (1): 2016
Summary
{| class="wikitable" width=30% style="font-size:90%; text-align:center;"
|-
!Competition !! !! !! !!Total
|-
| align=left|CAF African Cup of Nations
|0 || 1 || 0 || 1
|-
! Total !! 0 !! 1 !! 0 !! 1
|}
See also
References
External links
- Federation of Uganda Football Associations
- Uganda at CAF
- Uganda at FIFA