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Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | FUFA Drum Defending Champions West Nile Province has appointed Caesar Samson Okhuti as their new head coach ahead of the kick-off of the 2023 FUFA Drum tournament.
Okhuti replaces Bosco Dudu, the former head coach of the province who guided the white rhinos to their first FUFA Drum trophy early this year after they recorded a 3-2 aggregate win over Lango Province at Akiibua Stadium.
Prior to his new appointment, Okhuti who holds a CAF C coaching license served as the First Assistant coach for the West Nile province during the third edition of the FUFA Drum tournament. He will be assisted by Villa Oromcan as the First Assistant coach and Andrew Chandiga as the second Assistant coach.
Meanwhile, Musema Ramadan Okuni has been appointed as the goalkeeping coach according to the statement released by the West Nile province team on Friday.
Okhuti expressed readiness to take on the mantle from his predecessor. He further maintains that his priority remains to defend the trophy.
“I am ready to commence preparations for the upcoming season. Although this year’s tournament will be highly competitive, our target is to successfully defend the trophy”, he noted.
The technical staff for the club includes Mike Leti who will serve as the Team manager, Joseph Vudri and Carolyn Adonai both team physiotherapists, Hope Letasi (Kits manager) and Fred Munguriek who is the Public Relations Officer PRO for the province.
Badru Toko, the media officer of the West Nile Province says that they are considering having at least two or three friendly matches ahead of the kick-off of the group games.
Okhuti, a retired footballer started his senior career in 2007 with the then debutants in the Uganda super league side Ediofe Hills FC and scored a brace against URA FC. He played for a number of clubs both locally as well as abroad including Express, KCCA, Vissai Ninh Binh in Vietnam, and El Nasir of South Sudan.
He also won the league with Bunamwaya in 2010. He was part of the promoted Onduparaka Fc team in 2016. In 2021, Okhuti hung his boots after helping Arua Hill SC win the StarTimes FUFA Big League.
On June 13, the FUFA Drum Competitions committee announced draws for the fourth edition of the tournament with the defending champions West Nile pitted in group C alongside Bugisu province and the winner between Busoga or Karamoja region who are yet to face each other in the first round of the competition.
While carrying out the draws for the tournament, the FUFA Drum Chairman Rogers Byamukama explained that the tournament has expanded with the increase of the games from 36 to 48 games which will be aired live on FUFA TV.
“This time round the tournament will have an increase in the number of games played as they will increase from 36 to 48 games with the introduction of a new playing format.” He noted.
Under the new format, the top eight teams that qualified for last year’s quarterfinals namely West Nile, Lango, Acholi, Tooro, Buganda, Kampala, Teso, and Bugisu will receive a bye to the next round of the competition, as they will be pitted direct in the group stages with the last eight teams that did not make it to the quarterfinals last year. This year’s FUFA Drum tournament is tentatively slated to take place between the 27th of June to 17th of December.
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