The Finance Trust Bank Fufa Women Super League (FTBFWSL) returns this weekend with defending champions Kawempe Muslim under more pressure than ever to prove themselves, as She Corporate and KCCA Women lead a determined chasing pack.
Kick-off across the 12-team division, which produced a photo-finish last season with Kawempe on 52 points and She Corporate on 51, moves back to 4pm, having been shifted to 10am for the past two seasons for what turned out to be an unsuccessful venture to broadcast matches live.
New licensing rules now demand that FWSL clubs name at most three foreign players and at least five youth players, one of whom must be a goalkeeper of Ugandan nationality, in their match day squads.
Kawempe: Weight of crowns, Nkata departure
Kawempe arrive not only as FWSL champions but also Caf Women’s Champions League Cecafa representatives.
Coach Ayub Khalifah concedes the club can “no longer think of passing through the motions.” Opponents, he says, will “play against us with three times the effort” but the bigger headache is personnel. Assistant coach Moses Nkata, Khalifa’s lieutenant of nearly 20 years, leaves for URA. Khalifah believes Salim Kibirige is “more than capable of stepping in but needs to sort some paperwork.” More alarming for continental ambitions: five or six first team players, including Saidat Namwanje, Mable Adong, Dorcus Kisakye, and Brenda Nankya, are Senior Six candidates sitting UNEB exams that will disrupt their Champions League preparations, with S.4 candidate Kevin Nanyunja hopeful of being free by the time that competition starts.
Kawempe host Jinja United to open the campaign, before travelling to Amus College and Rines SS in the opening weeks.
She Corporate: No backing down
Last season’s runners up She Corporate have lost several first team names like Viol Namuddu, Sandra Kisakye, Molly Naava, and Rebecca Nandhego among otherd but even more importantly, Burundian coach Belyse Ininahazwe. Saddam Pande, who deputized Ininahazwe for a while before taking a sabbatical, has been promoted to a lead role and is unfazed.
“I am expected to build on how we performed last season. I am ready. We are adding some new players and hopefully they hit the ground running,” Pande, who has the experience having coached Olila High School for about seven seasons, said.
KCCA: More than a rebranding job
KCCA Women chief executive officer (CEO) Meddie Ssengendo clarified a change in ownership structure where Kampala Queens (KQ) sold only a 30 percent stake to KCCA. Pearl Sporto, run by Fufa president Moses Magogo, retains 70 percent control. Financially, Ssengendo admits the picture is tight: “We have two sponsors; Jonard and Pearl Sporto for a club carrying students and salaried professionals.” That was part of the motivation to get KCCA buying after a year of a partnership that basically saw KQ just benefitting from using the MTN Omondi Stadium in Lugogo.
On the technical side, the side parted ways with Ethiopian coach Firew Asefa Hailegebreal with two months left on his deal. With that deal set to expire once the season had already begun, KCCA opted to start anew with Hamza Lutalo, a proven league winner with KQ in the 2022/23 season.
Ssengendo acknowledged past dressing-room unrest led to Lutalo’s unceremonious departure even when performances were still good and said the new technical bench has been briefed on managing the squad better. The renewed partnership will see the women’s team also gain access to fitness and goalkeeping support.
URA: Excitement aplenty
Promoted from the second tier FTBFWEL (Elite League), URA have made the loudest transfer statement ahead of the season. They are meant to be headlined by the capture of coach Nkata from Kawempe.
The main question hanging over the campaign will be whether Nkata can show he is his own man away from Khalifah and Kawempe.
The club has injected the funds to bring in players like Zainah Namuleme, Patience Nabulobi, and Shamusa Najjuma among others way ahead of the coach.
Lady Doves: Another rebuilding job
Lady Doves CEO Godfrey Nsingwire has turned to former player Gladys Nakitto to lead the side. Nakitto was promoted from within after taking interim charge late last season. Doves have lost Resty Kobusobozi (moved to Tanzania’s Yanga), Cecilia Apiding (Kawempe) and long-serving captain Lydia Nyandera (to URA), but Nsingwire is sanguine: “We had a 24-man squad last year so 21 is not bad,” pointing to academy graduates promoted into the group.
She Maroons: Okello finally gets his own squad
Coach Maxwell Okello returns for a second campaign, but this time with a squad assembled to his own specifications rather than inherited. CEO Rodrick Muhumuza says the club board has set the bar at a top three finish. Maroons have also gone young among the first in the division to lean into Fufa’s youth licensing push.
“Senior players start the season well but once the load piled, form declined and some were taking increasingly long to recover from injury. So we deemed it fit to add some young players,” Muhumuza said.
Rines: Schools pedigree, professional uncertainty
Interestingly, She Maroons open away at Rines SS but sources within the latter’s camp say that despite arriving off the back of dominating secondary school competitions in 2026, Rines’ club side is shrouded in uncertainty over its long-term future as the owners want to sell. By Wednesday, the players had not started training for the new season.
Jinja United: New comers with minimum ambitions
The division’s other promoted side is actually Mayuge-based and will interestingly play their home matches in Iganga.
Bunya SS bought the club from Busoga Province chairman Daniel Musota but the club executive is yet to decide on a name change.
CEO Ashiraf Isabirye says Bunya’s home pitch is below standard” cue the unintended efforts to make themselves a team for the wider Busoga.
Having climbed through the regional leagues season by season, the target is straightforward: “our minimum target is to stay in the topflight league.”
Amus College: Time to level up
Despite lifting the Fufa Women Cup in 2025, Amus could not turn that into league form last season, finishing fifth. The club’s Samuel Opio pointed to a coaching staff that “struggled to work together,” thin recruitment, and an injury crisis among nationally capped players. Brenda Nassozi takes over as coach, with Opio candid that the priority this season is building young talent that can keep them competitive.
Makerere University refreshed
Coach Fred Ndawula remains in place, offering the kind of stability few rivals enjoy. Player departures include Hasifah Patricia Nambozo, and Allen Nassazi while Rebecca Nakasato has retired. Makerere’s model will now lean on its “First Year” intake, with Ndawula opting to plan around players guaranteed to be at the university and the club for at least three years.
Uganda Martyrs: Can continuity pay off?
Uganda Martyrs High School Lubaga CEO Freda Ayerango is pleased that they enter a second straight season under coach Edward Ssozi bringing a rare run of technical stability.
The club has strengthened its backroom staff, including doubling up on goalkeeping coaches, and enjoyed a seven-week pre-season, more than double the three weeks typical in previous years.
Key players Sharon Kanyiginya and Moureen Kizza among others have signed new deals as the club hopes the stability can give them a fast start.
St. Noa: Cards close to chest
Coach Rajab Buyinza has been taking charge of the St. Noa Girls Zana school team of recent. But CEO William Ssentumbwe was coy on sharing if the same man will be in charge of the FWSL team. Ssentumbwe said “we are still organising ourselves” when pressed about their readiness. But attacker Marion Serenge could be among the players that have moved on.
The 2026/27 Fufa Women Super League season runs through the first round to January 2027, with a break for the Crested Cranes’ Olympic qualifiers in early October and the women’s international window in late November.
Finance Trust Bank Fufa Women Super League – Opening Weekend Fixtures
Saturday, 4pm: Kawempe Muslim vs. Jinja United, St. Mary’s Stadium Kitende
Sunday, 4pm
URA Ladies vs. KCCA Women, Hamz Stadium Nakivubo
Makerere University vs. Amus College, Nsibirwa Playground
Lady Doves vs. Uganda Martyrs, Katusabe Dove
Rines SS vs. She Maroons, Kabaka Kyabaggu Stadium
She Corporate vs. St. Noa Girls, Fufa Technical Centre Njeru