The gloves are off, and the battle lines are firmly drawn.
Ugandan football finds itself on the edge of a slippery slope as Vipers president, Lawrence Mulindwa, digs in his heels against Fufa’s controversial new league format.
What once looked like a simmering disagreement has now boiled over into an open war that could drag the local game into a bottomless pit.
Mulindwa, who once presided over Fufa for eight years, has come out swinging, insisting the Venoms will not kick a ball under the federation’s freshly minted three-group league structure.
To him, the so-called reforms are not just ill-timed but a direct attack on clubs’ autonomy, stripping them of hosting rights, benefits, and their place at the heart of the competition.
‘Time and again, we raised pertinent issues,’ Mulindwa thundered in a letter dated October 2, 2025, ‘but to our surprise and dismay, Fufa has never formally responded.
Instead, we have been ridiculed, blackmailed, rebuked, and ostracized for demanding legitimate answers to issues affecting the sporting integrity of the League.’
The flashpoint came when Fufa included Vipers in Saturday’s double-header at Namboole – Kitara vs. Vipers and KCCA vs. SC Villa – despite the club’s loud and clear objections.
‘We find this unethical and disrespectful,’ Mulindwa stated, blasting the move as a total disregard for the struggles of privately owned clubs that have kept Ugandan football afloat.
Like a striker refusing to play offside, Mulindwa refused to be trapped.
While Villa and Nec have bent under pressure, Vipers have stood firm, refusing to be ‘conscripted’ into fixtures without answers.
In his letter-copied to the Minister of Education and Sports, National Council for Sports, UPL officials, sponsors, fans, and stakeholders-he made it clear.
‘Vipers shall not participate in the new format until our concerns are formally addressed. We shall use all available means within football laws to seek redress and protect our rights.’
Fufa, for its part, has dug in its boots, vowing to press on with reforms it claims will bring ‘renewed competition.’
But with fans already staying away in droves – stadiums recording shockingly low turnouts in the first two match days – the stage is set for a bruising showdown.
This is no longer just a league reform debate – it is a full-blown football war.
And as every fan knows, when two elephants fight on the pitch, it is the grass-Ugandan football-that suffers most.