Various stakeholders will gather at Imperial Royale Hotel next Tuesday as Fufa launches a pilot Commercial Strategy under the Fifa Women’s Football Development Programme.
The initiative aims to boost the commercial value of women’s football with Fifa providing guidance on commercialisation and discussing strategies like; strengthening sponsorship planning, marketing frameworks, and sustainable revenue models for leagues and clubs.
“This launch marks a significant step in building sustainable women’s football structures, investing in governance, capacity building and commercial frameworks,” Fufa’s director of communications Ahmed Hussein, said ahead of the launch that will have participants drawn from government, business sector, current and potential sponsors of women football, clubs, media, former and current players, cultural institutions, and staff from Fifa’s regional office in Kigali.
While urging corporate bodies to support women trying to make careers out of football, Finance Trust Bank’s managing director Annet Mulindwa Nakawunde whose bank sponsors the top two tiers of the women’s domestic leagues, said “everyone should support and take note of the efforts taken by Fufa. Fufa is looking out for people who can make a different set of careers in this country.”
In December 2024 Fifa’s secretary general Mattias Grafström, emphasized the international body had refreshed and renewed the Fifa Women’s Development Programme, which offers tailored initiatives – after application – for all 211 member associations, in order “to deliver on the ambitious objectives set out in the Fifa Women’s Football Strategy: 2024-2027.”
In the aforementioned strategy, Fifa aims to increase the number of opportunities for girls and women both on and off the pitch through programmes like; women’s football strategy, women’s football campaign, league development, club licensing, commercial strategy (pilot), global benchmarking of women’s leagues, capacity building for administrators, women in football leadership, coach education scholarships (individuals), coach education scholarships (groups), coach mentorship, elite performance (coach mentorship), and elite performance (women’s national team preparation).
Deep history
Uganda has benefited from the aforementioned programme since 2022 through league development campaigns, club licensing, coach education, and capacity building for administrators among others.
But even before that, ahead of the launch of the domestic league in 2014, Fifa helped first under their ‘Live Your Goals’ project.
“Your member association has a robust foundation supporting the development of women’s football, and it benefits from a strong product and a dedicated commercial team, ensuring the pilot project’s productivity and effectiveness,” wrote Sarai Bareman, the Chief Women’s Football Officer at Fifa, in a March 2025 letter as she assured Fufa chief executive officer Edgar Watson of the world body’s intentions to run a commercial strategy project with the Ugandan body.