The President of Federation of Uganda Football Association (FUFA), Moses Magogo has claimed that Mike Mutebi turned down the opportunity to coach the Uganda national team.
Magogo made the revelation during an exclusive interview with NBS TV.
The Cranes coach job fell vacant in 2019 following then coach Desabre’s termination of his contract by mutual consent.
Since then, former Police FC coach Abdallah Mubiru has been the interim coach of the Cranes as the search for a permanent coach continues.
This week, reports circulated on several media platforms suggesting that former KCCA FC coach Mike Mutebi was the front runner for Cranes’ permanent coach job.
However, this seems less likely following Magogo’s revelation that Mutebi refused the job offer.
“Incidentally I will go on record, we offered this job to him, he refused it . He said he’s not ready for the national team at the moment. Well, that’s the reaction we got. So, we continue with the search to make sure that we get another human being a Ugandan or non Ugandan to take on the job,” Magogo said.
Magogo says, they had based on Mutebi’s experience against the Arabs, South Africans and Central Africans to offer him the job adding that he believed the former ‘Kasasiro Boys’ coach would have been the right man for the mantle.
“I would have also loved to see a Ugandan coach on the Uganda national team and I believe many Ugandans are moving towards that. I have been public and said that I believe Mike Mutebi is one of the coaches in my view who has reached the level.”
“You know when you coach the national team, you’re coaching international football. Your competition is international, it’s not in the league,” Magogo added.
Mutebi was shown exit at KCCA FC in March this year after his contract was terminated and has since then not found greener pastures despite having been linked with a number of clubs locally and on the continent.
