Solidarity Mechanism Payment: FUFA Should Maximize this Passive Income stream to Develop Football

Under FIFA rules, if a professional footballer transfers to another club during the course of a contract, 5% of any transfer fee, not including training compensation paid to his former club, shall be deducted from the total amount of his transfer fee and distributed by the new club as a solidarity contribution to the club(s) involved in his training and education over the years.

This solidarity contribution reflects the number of years he was registered with the relevant club(s) between the seasons of his 12th and 23rd birthdays, as follows:

Season of birthday	% of compensation	% of total transfer fee
12th	5%	0.25%
13th	5%	0.25%
14th	5%	0.25%
15th	5%	0.25%
16th	10%	0.50%
17th	10%	0.50%
18th	10%	0.50%
19th	10%	0.50%
20th	10%	0.50%
21st	10%	0.50%
22nd	10%	0.50%
23rd	10%	0.50%
Total	100%	5%

We shall later get back to the above breakdown with a practical example.

According to my financial expert Andrew Muhimbise, passive income is money earned without the direct involvement of the income earner. For instance, owning real estate or company shares, you actually don't have to physically be there to earn. I would personally add that to earn passive income, you need an initial effort.

The recently closed transfer window had Paul Pogba's move from Juventus to Manchester United for a world record GBP 89,300,000 dominate headlines. On application of the solidarity mechanism payment using the breakdown in the table above, French ligue 2 club Le Havre AC come into the picture as they were Pogba's first formal football team. He joined the club at 12 years of age and spent there only four years. Since they contributed to his development and education as a football player, for their efforts, they earned a passive income of GBP 893,000. 

While Le Havre AC have had better times and most likely earned more money than that before, Racqui San Isidro who ply their trade in Spain's fifth division were saved from running out of football business by the solidarity mechanism payment. Pedro's GBP 27,000,000 transfer from Barcelona to Chelsea ensured that they earned a life saving GBP 320,000 which not only helped them stay in football but ensured they invested the money to increase income to help run the club. The same cannot be said of football clubs in Uganda.

FUFA SHOULD IMPLEMENT A DOMESTIC SOLIDARITY MECHANISM PAYMENT SYSTEM THAT DEVELOPS UGANDAN FOOTBALL 

While the solidarity mechanism payment system applies to international transfers (involves moving from one federation to another federation), Federation Of Uganda Football Association (FUFA) can implement a domestic version that would STRICTLY apply to DOMESTIC transfers.

  In the past years we have seen how Ibrahim Sekagya's transfer from Arsenal de Serandi to Red Bull Salzburg caused more fist fights than celebrations, with the Austrian club required to pay 5% of the transfer fee, all of Sekagya's former teams were demanding for payment, reason: they heard that there was payment, reality: they didn't know which club qualifies for payment. 

With a domestic solidarity mechanism payment, 

1. Clubs will be organized and maintain records because they will expect payment from transfers. Handling "small" transfer fees will help prepare clubs for the huge amounts and avoid the issue of Victor Wanyama's transfer from Celtic to Southampton.

2. Clubs will work very hard to train and maintain quality players because they will know that it pays to train a "Pogba". At the moment, we have young players moving every transfer window, the lack of stability denies players a chance to get proper football education and to develop talent.

3. Clubs will appreciate the value of having full time standard academies and attaching value to talented footballers. With more transfers and funds being paid to clubs, more money will get to grassroots which helps clubs acquire equipment.

4. Clubs will work very hard to stay in business by adopting modern business methods. Having the hope that there's payment because of a good product on the market would keep any club afloat.

5. Problem of age cheating will be solved because clubs would need to register players from the age of twelve and keep tracking them to avoid missing out on a huge pay day.

 The most expensive Ugandan footballer has got to be Farouk Miya after Standard Liege paid $400,000 to Vipers. On applying the solidarity mechanism payment formula, Standard Liege should be paying Friends Of Football (FOF) about $6,000. Do they have the paper work to prove he was groomed at their academy? I highly doubt, only coach Eddie Butindo can answer that. Do they have the knowledge that they are due $6,000 from Standard Liege? My gut tells me no but I hope that I am wrong.

That leaves us with the big question, Why is it that a law that was introduced to develop football at grass root level is not serving its intended purpose? It is because we don't apply it well enough to get accustomed to it.

The biggest move of the recently closed Ugandan transfer window was of Musa Esenu joining Vipers SC from Soana FC for a reported 25,000,000 Uganda Shillings. The 21 year old striker was groomed by Future Stars in Soroti.

Musa Esenu being unveiled by Lawrence Mulindwa. Photo credits: Bukedde Online 

Below is an illustration of how a domestically applied solidarity mechanism payment would benefit Future Stars.

Registering Club	Vipers SC		Player	Musa Esenu
Former Club	Soana		D.O.B
Instalment	25,000,000.00		Currency
95% due to Selling Club	23,750,000.00		Solidarity	1,250,000.00
Season of Birthday	Club	% due	Amount	Season
Season of 12th Birthday	Future Stars	5.00%	62,500.00
Season of 13th Birthday	Future Stars	5.00%	62,500.00
Season of 14th Birthday	Future Stars	5.00%	62,500.00
Season of 15th Birthday	Future Stars	5.00%	62,500.00
Season of 16th Birthday	Future Stars	10.00%	125,000.00
Season of 17th Birthday	Future Stars	10.00%	125,000.00
Season of 18th Birthday	Future Stars	10.00%	125,000.00
Season of 19th Birthday	Future Stars	10.00%	125,000.00
Season of 20th Birthday	Soana	10.00%	125,000.00
Season of 21st Birthday		10.00%	125,000.00
Season of 22nd Birthday		10.00%	125,000.00
Season of 23rd Birthday		10.00%	125,000.00
		TOTAL	1,250,000.00

As illustrated above, Future Stars would pocket 750,000 Uganda shillings of passive income from Esenu's move for their initial effort in grooming him. It sounds like very little money but its enough to buy basic football equipment to keep them running. It would prepare Future Stars to receive bigger amounts should Esenu move from Vipers for a higher transfer fee and most importantly, its better than nothing at all.

The ball is in FUFA's half to be creative and come up with a domestic solidarity mechanism payment system to help clubs to develop through being able to get funds to the grass root structures that groom football players.

About the author: Ben Mwesigwa is an U-17 football coach at Maroons FC in Uganda, he currently holds a CAF B coaching license and his vision is to develop complete world class footballers.

Please follow me on Twitter @mwesben
Website: www.coachbenmwesigwa.com 

Creative Decisions Would Make Uganda Premier League Competitive

  The 2015-16 Azam Uganda Premier League (AUPL) season concluded on Friday 28^th May 2016. The highlights were; KCCA FC winning its eleventh league title, U.R.A FC striker Robert Sentongo was the top score with 18 league goals, Sports Club Victoria University, Simba FC plus Maroons FC were relegated and that’s all, YES YOU READ IT RIGHT, that’s all that happened. 
  Sports journalists, UPL administrators and competitions committee officials at FUFA will give you a list of more highlights including another one that KCCA FC won just three of their last eight games before clinching the title with a 1-1 draw against cross city rivals Express FC (championship winning form in a non-competitive league) 
  To an ordinary football fan in Uganda, getting to know the champion, relegated teams and KCCA’s form before winning the league title would be news, one out of 20,000 football fans in Uganda would be able to tell the three mentioned highlights. 
  That the AUPL lacks competitiveness is not news anymore, without competitiveness it’s very hard for the media to have good stories to report about Ugandan football, without good media coverage it’s very hard to attract fans into the stadiums, without fans clubs cant have good sources of revenue, without good revenue for clubs there's no money, that's the cycle and story of the AUPL.

KCCA FC's Muzamil Mutyaba celebrates with team mate Paul Mucureezi the equalizing goal that clinched the title

16 TEAMS IS A CROWD FOR A LEAGUE THAT'S STRUGGLING WITH LOW QUALITY FOOTBALL

  The standard of our football is still very low. What is the justification for having sixteen teams in our league? The number of teams in the AUPL should be gradually reduced from 16 to 12 teams. With fewer teams in a league, the sporting gap between teams is reduced, this increases competitiveness, 
   The Scottish Premiership has an incredibly creative 12 team league system designed to make it very competitive and at the same time increase the number of games played (just in case you were worried at the number of games played in a 12 team league). 
  These twelve teams play each opponent three times to make 33 games then after that part the league gets split into half, the top six teams compete for the trophy in a championship league while the bottom six fight to avoid relegation by playing a further five games. 
  By the end of the league its 38 games played. How competitive is it to make it into the top six? Does it make the SPL competitive? Definitely yes, because there’s a lot more to play for.

  Vipers and KCCA FC battled for the AUPL title until it was decided on match day 29. Those two teams will confess to the league's competitiveness because they had something to play for but I wonder what JMC Hippos, Lweza FC, Bright Stars, Soana FC, Police FC, Sadolin FC and Bul FC (yes, those are the teams we have in the AUPL) had to play for the moment they realized that they couldn’t be relegated. 
  I can also imagine what they would have to play for if the AUPL had a top eight tournament, a cash prize breakdown based on merit or any other creative idea designed to make the league competitive.

Farouk Miya of Standard Liege: the Belgian Jupiler has a creative league system designed to make it more competitive

WHAT DO CLUBS COMPETE FOR IN THE AUPL? 

  Imagine going for a 100 meter race against Usain Bolt and a samurai wrestler. Before the start of the race you all get paid a flat appearance fee of 100,000 United States Dollars, the only thing on your mind would be not to finish last then go home and enjoy your earnings. Would the race be competitive? I highly doubt because it will turn out as predictable as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. 
  That is the exact setting of the AUPL, at the start of the season each team is guaranteed to earn 50 million Uganda shillings from league broadcasters Azam Television and that’s it.

  The English Premier League prize payment breakdown is very creative, it brings out the most competitive edge in each team. 50% of the sponsorship fee is equally shared among all 20 teams, then 25% is paid on merit basis. This is the best part because clubs are paid according to league position. 25% merit money starts with £1.23 million for 20th placed club then increases by £1.23 million for every position all the way to top where champions will get £24.7 million.

If a team in the ninth position (earning 19,918,368) had a chance to win its last three games to leapfrog into 5^th position (to earn 21,968,793), that would be an extra £4.92 million. Would a club compete for that? What a stupid question to ask. Is there a difference between a team finishing 9th and 5th in the AUPL? Would a club in the AUPL fight hard to leapfrog from 9^th to 5^th position? You don’t have to answer those two questions but now you get an idea why our league is not competitive, why most of the 240 games in the AUPL season are played for pride which makes the AUPL very vulnerable to match fixing.
  16 teams should have more than a league trophy and relegation to play for, UPL should be creative so that every team has something to play for.

Dennis Onyango won the 2015-16 PSL title with Sundowns. The Q-innovative system in PSL makes every game ultra-competitive

FUFA HAS LED THE WAY WITH FJL, AUPL CAN DO FAR MUCH BETTER

  Federation of Uganda Football Association (FUFA) made the FUFA Juniors’ League (FJL) very competitive by coming with up with a very simple idea that every team that scores more than two goals earns an extra point for each extra goal scored. This simple but creative decision ensured that every game played in the FJL had a lot at stake. 

  The SportPesa Kenya Premier League with its Top Eight tournament, the UEFA Champions League cash prize breakdown system, the Belgian Jupiler League and the Premier Soccer League of South Africa with its Q-innovative system are all examples of how creative ideas can make a league very competitive.

  As 2015-16 AUPL champions, KCCA FC will represent Uganda in the 2017 CAF Champions League, they’ll find it very competitive yet they haven’t been prepared for that level of competitiveness because of a less competitive league. UPL usually helps teams that have continental engagements by postponing league fixtures but the REAL HELP should come in form of being creative to make UPL competitive. It’s only then that KCCA FC and future UPL champions will be able to qualify for the group stage of the CAF champions’ league, which pays a lot.

UPL C.E.O Benard Bainamani has the power to develop a competitive AUPL

  With higher levels of competitiveness you get better players, with better players you get quality matches which increases the number of fans in stadiums. With more fans in stadiums, clubs would make more money from gate collections and be able to attract sponsors to earn more revenue. The cycle gets bigger and better.

  League organizers all over the world constantly meet to review how to make their respective leagues more competitive. Football fans usually discuss ideas like head to head, play-offs, Europa league winner qualifying for champions league e.t.c All these twists are meant to make the league/tournament more competitive. UPL C.E.O Benard Bainamani and his board have the power to make the AUPL competitive through implementing creative ideas. 
Challenges are solved through creativity which in turn pays a lot. 

  A competitive league markets itself to sponsors. Football can’t attract money at the start BUT through creative decisions we can generate revenue that would be needed to develop Ugandan football in the long run. UPL as a major stakeholder in Ugandan football have the power in their creative minds to change and develop Ugandan Football.

About the author: Ben Mwesigwa is an U-17 football coach at Maroons FC in Uganda, he currently holds a CAF C coaching license and his vision is to develop complete world class footballers.

Please follow me on Twitter @mwesben

Parent is the First Coach, your Role Should Make it Easier For Coaches

A parent is the first teacher, sounds too obvious. In sports it makes a parent the first coach, now you must be wondering, how? Becoming a professional athlete is a dream for most youngsters worldwide, and parents too because being a professional in any sports discipline pays a lot. it’s not just the healthy pay but being paid to do what you're passionate about is the best feeling of dreams turning into reality, its incomparable and of course sports comes with its added advantages of better health, travelling the globe, building well networked connections and gaining more knowledge.

Maggie takes on her two sons in a football fun session

Maggie is teaching Jeremy and Jason to be passionate about football

In developed societies, parents introduce youngsters to sports as early as three years of age while in under developed countries (read developing countries) like Uganda, the most common age of introduction to formal coaching is between 12 years old to 15 years of age. As An U-17 age category football coach, when I settle down to plan a coaching session to teach youngsters in the development phase, I usually plan to teach them technical aspects of the game, the technical basics that any footballer should be able to execute, basics like; passing, receiving, crossing, shooting and heading the ball however, in practice the whole planned session doesn't work out, it practically gets dumped on the pitch.

COACHING PLAN SHOULD BE USED. WHY DOES IT GET DUMPED ON THE PITCH?

Getting players in order to be coached becomes increasingly difficult, they easily get distracted and lack concentration, don’t have respect for team mates and officials, always talkative, can’t follow basic instructions, and get easily agitated over the most minor of referee decisions, hold grudges and revenge to hurt and injure team mates, when in the wrong they can’t apologize and don’t even know how to apologize, they thrive more on excuses than reasons, they claim to need a lot of motivation, can’t communicate effectively, very poor at keeping and managing time BUT the major one has got to be total lack of confidence and not knowing when to apply the best effort to put up a worthy challenge. If all these habits and behaviors were from players under 12 years then it WOULD be understandable but in my experience with Ugandan players aged between 15-17 years and even worse with senior team players, you get into a senior team training session and it’s very much like a nursery class. It’s all too frustrating until you realize that none of the players is bothered at all, it’s all very normal to them, they don't intend to be that way BUT weren't taught by their parents how to behave.

Maroons Junior team had lost 5-0 to Villa Jogoo Young in our last game of the 2015-16 FUFA Juniors’ League (FJL) it was an away match so on our journey back, I was very disappointed with the our performance but it’s not only the poor performance that was getting to me because I know young players lack consistency and my slogan to them is next time better. I gathered them up and asked each one of them to define common sense, they each came up with a definition that we dismissed based on example. We couldn’t get a concrete definition (if you have it please post it in the comments section) but got basic examples like; we don’t believe that there’s any culture in the world where people have lunch or dinner squatted on top of tables, then on realizing that we were on the same page I told them that when we report back for training in preparation for the next season, our first coaching session will be LEARNING and APPLICATION of common sense (parents, please do your role). Initially the players didn’t like the idea because they claimed everybody has common sense but within a minute of mentioning, I kept on picking out actions that showed a lack of common sense, by the end of our journey we had identified about five moments that proved a serious lack of common sense among the squad.

HOW THEN DOES A PARENT BECOME THE FIRST COACH?

Football clubs will start considering players for professional ranks between the ages of 14-18 years old. Players have to go through academies and all kinds of underage football being coached. To make it that far they need to be taught how to maintain high levels of concentration, how to respect team mates and officials, how to solve basic problems, to embrace challenges, being disciplined, taking responsibility for their actions and outcomes, being able to work in a team and to have team work, proper personal hygiene, having the ability to motivate themselves, have confidence that has to be differentiated from arrogance, high level of self-esteem, being straight forward and honest, should be able to take criticism, should be taught patience, they should be able to get over losses and poor performances, should be able to persevere, have the confidence to learn through making mistakes (how many Ugandans can do that?), have knowledge of performing first aid, know proper nutrition, know how to rest, should be taught how to set achievable goals, should be taught how to manage income and to have basic etiquette. As a parent you MUST endeavor that you teach children how to be able to live and interact with other people because at some point in their lives they will have to live on their own or with other people, as footballers they will need to interact with team mates, officials, fans/supporters, opponents and sponsors but the most challenging part is when they interact with coaches to be taught how to play. Will they be ready for a coach to get on with teaching the technical part of the game? Or football coaching time will have to be sacrificed to get them prepared (that would be a selfish act on the rest of the team).

Christine Mayengo is a top class parent to her son Alpha who will be easily coach-able to achieve his dream. 

As a parent you are the first coach because you have to instill all these values in children, if a child can’t be confident in your presence as a parent then how will they execute basic skills required to play football while being watched by thousands of fans? At the moment we have got a lot of youngsters who lack passion and commitment, we have footballers who play like they are forced to, they never got to enjoy the fun part of the sport while growing up, training is like a punishment to them. When they are given a break, they take it like a get out of jail pardon. As a parent you need to be the number one supporter of your child, monitor them to ensure that with time they develop the values you instill in them, know the profession they want to pursue and get started. 12 years is enough time for you as a parent to teach basic values so that coaches can take over and deliver what they are paid to do best.

parents should be the first line of support: Cathy Nakibuuka is very supportive of her son's interests. 

PARENTS FOR PROFESSIONALS

Almost every professional footballer with parents will always be grateful to their parents first because they recognize the effort and responsibility that was used to get them that far, so as a parent you need to look in the mirror because your actions will make or break your child’s dream of making it as a professional.

Rock Solid: Values are the foundation on which you set goals to achieve your dreams

The values you teach your child act as a foundation for them to set up the goals required to achieve their desired vision. As a development level football coach, I am more than grateful to all those parents that have well groomed children. It’s because of your hard work that I get to be the football coach that uses my session to work out as planned (sometimes i actually use the session plan).

As a parent, before you complain about the state of our football, sports or any other profession. Have you done your part as a parent? Still wondering how a parent is the first coach? 

About the author: Ben Mwesigwa is an U-17 football coach at Maroons FC in Uganda, he currently holds a CAF C coaching license and his vision is to develop complete world class footballers.

Please follow me on Twitter @mwesben

FUFA Should Use a Flexible Player Licensing System to Develop Football Players

A players' license is a form of identification issued to a club for registered players. For clubs participating in tournaments that are under the supervision of Federation of Uganda Football Association (FUFA) the players’ license is issued by FUFA. 

In the current format, when a player is licensed to play in one league then they are ineligible to play in a different league. A player licensed to play in the Azam Uganda Premier League (AUPL) can’t turn up for a different team in the Big League which makes obvious sense. 

At the start of the 2015-16 AUPL season, FUFA came up with a brilliant idea of starting up the FUFA Juniors’ League (FJL) as the U-17 league and since the U-17 league is supervised by FUFA, FJL registered players had to acquire licenses. Playing in the FJL automatically disqualifies the youngsters from representing their senior teams in any other FUFA supervised competition.

the Maroons U-17 before the FJL match vs Vipers

One of the one thousand ways in which FUFA can promote development of footballers in Uganda is by adopting a flexible player licensing system. A player licensed to represent Maroons Junior team in the FJL should be able to represent Maroons FC in the AUPL. In this way clubs don’t have to rush promoting junior players but can always field them or even have them as substitutes to motivate them and to reward them for good performances. 

How exactly does that work out in player development? I was watching an English Premier League (EPL) match between Everton and Bournemouth, it was match day 35 Everton were playing for pride, then in the 87th minute with Everton leading 2-1 Ross Barkley’s number was up for substitution, the player coming on was an 18 year old, the name? Kieran Dowell. I had no idea who this player was but the commentator and fans seemed to know him very well. As he came on to a standing ovation the commentator saved my ignorance when he mentioned that he had scored a superbly well taken hat trick in a midweek U-21 league fixture against Leicester City. 

EPL clubs register 25 players so I highly doubt Dowell was registered to feature in the EPL, I highly doubt his player license reads that. For Dowell to play three minutes against Bournemouth, he must have trained with the senior squad for about five days, does that develop him a player? Definitely yes. 

It got better for Dowell on match day 38 of the 2015-16 EPL season, yet again Everton were playing for pride as they hosted Norwich. Dowell made his full EPL debut and had a man of the match performance as he made two assists. Kieran Dowell is most likely going to have a bright future as a professional footballer. He will most likely become a first team player in the 2016-17 season for Everton based on his end of season performance because he got a chance to show and prove his ability. He got that chance because the flexible player licensing system used by the English Football Association gives provision for a player who started the season as an U-18 league player to end the season with an EPL appearance. 

The FA in England will benefit too because the experience Kieran Dowell picks up from training and playing against seasoned internationals makes him a better player should he feature for the English U-18 national team. 

As I was writing this article I saw the news flash that Marcus Rashford had been named in England’s 26 man Euro 2016 provisional squad. He got their because of the performances and goals in the matches he played for Manchester United. He got into the Manchester United squad because of injuries to senior players. Was he licensed to play in the EPL at any point in the season? I highly doubt, especially when you consider that he made his first appearance for Manchester United in February 2016 when the transfer window and registration windows had closed. Rashford went on to score eight goals, which was a massive step in his development as a striker. 

Liverpool have had a Europa league run to the final, they had to rest players for league games, so youngsters like Ojo, Smith, Stewart, Brannagan and Flanagan all got game time. On match day 38 in the EPL, West Bromwich Albion were hosting Liverpool when Sergi Canos made his Liverpool debut, the commentator mentioned that he had spent the entire season on loan at Brentford, I was in shock how a player could represent one club then turn up for a different club in a league tournament. Was Canos licensed to represent Liverpool in a space of one week? Hell no. I still highly doubt that these youngsters are licensed to play in the EPL. 

FUFA should start a flexible player licensing system that allows players belonging to a particular club to be open to represent the club at any time in any league tournament as long as the player has a license. The player's license should be able to show which league he can play in. I guess for Kieran Dowell’s case he can play in the U-18 league, U-21 league and EPL for Everton. 

Back here in Uganda, at the start of the second round of the 2015-16 AUPL, KCCA FC promoted Kikonyogo and Poloto from their U-17 team but because of a rigid player licensing system, KCCA FC can’t have them play in both FJL and AUPL, forcing KCCA FC to make a tough choice. I highly doubt these two youngsters developed as footballers because they hardly got any game time with the senior team and missed representing their U-17 team which went on to be runners up in the FJL. 

In Uganda, we have had countless cases of highly rated youngsters fading into the unknown. Young players need to be with peers to maintain high levels of confidence, they can then be slowly integrated into the senior team with cameo appearances as they continue to play under age football.

To avoid rushing youngsters into top flight football, a flexible player licensing system is required so that highly rated youngsters like Kikonyogo and Poloto can be part of KCCA's FJL team and also be able to make it to the senior team line up when needed. That way they wouldn’t miss out on FJL game time which is vital for their development as footballers.

At Maroons FC we got relegated on match day 27 of the AUPL after a 3-2 loss away against Soana. As I write this blog, we have two league games to go but how I wish our U-17 players were eligible to represent Maroons in the AUPL. We would invite the youngsters to train with the senior team players, their presence would rejuvenate the whole atmosphere around the club because young players bring raw passion and enthusiasm to the game. Fans love seeing young players being given a chance. 

The pick of the bunch are; goal keeper Solomon Okello, right back Musa Senoga, central midfielder Vincent Abigaba and forward Arafat Sentongo, playing two games in the AUPL would be invaluable experience for these young players. 

As a club, we would have created a moment that these youngsters would never forget, these youngsters would bring out a competitive attitude because senior team players wouldn't want to lose their first team slots to youngsters but most importantly they would have a massive step in their development as footballers.

Its high time FUFA changed player licensing regulations so that players licensed to play in FJL are open to represent their parent clubs in the AUPL because the benefits are all too obvious.

About the author: Ben Mwesigwa is an U-17 football coach at Maroons FC in Uganda, he currently has a CAF C coaching license and his vision is to develop complete world class footballers.
Twitter: @mwesben