The Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA) has approved sweeping amendments to its statutes, including a move away from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), as it races to comply with Uganda's new sports governance framework.
The changes were unanimously endorsed during an Extraordinary General Assembly held virtually on Thursday and are aimed at aligning FUFA’s constitution with requirements under the National Sports Act, 2023, and the National Sports Regulations.
Several provisions of the federation’s statutes, including Articles 1, 24, 36, 67, 68, 74, 75 and 91, were amended following recommendations from the National Council of Sports.
FUFA Legal Director Denis Lukambi said the revisions were necessary because the regulations require every national sports federation to incorporate specific clauses into its constitution.
“The National Sports Regulations provide that the constitution of a national sports federation or association must include specific clauses. The way these clauses are worded in the regulations, they were effectively a copy and paste into our FUFA statutes,” Lukambi said.
He explained that the review process uncovered gaps that had to be addressed before the federation could fully comply with the law.
“There are about six clauses that were missing. These have now been resolved and submitted to the delegates of FUFA, who approved unanimously all the proposed amendments to the FUFA statutes,” he said.
One of the most significant changes concerns dispute resolution, with FUFA abandoning the practice of referring disputes directly to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
“Previously, we referred disputes to the Court of Arbitration for Sport as a federation. The recommendation now is that we refer all matters relating to disputes to national sports arbitration in accordance with the National Sports Act,” Lukambi noted.
The National Sports Act, 2023, enacted by the Parliament of Uganda, requires all national sports associations and federations to incorporate arbitration clauses into their constitutions for handling disputes.
The legislation also authorises the Minister responsible for sports to appoint arbitrators and requires registered sports associations and federations to pay an annual arbitration fee of Shs3 million to the National Council of Sports.
Following approval by delegates, FUFA will now submit the amended statutes to the National Council of Sports for final clearance.
“After here, we are going to submit our statutes to the National Council of Sports for further approval so that we comply entirely with the law to be registered as a national sports federation,” Lukambi said.
The reforms position Federation of Uganda Football Associations among the first major sports bodies in the country to formally adjust its governance structures in response to the new sports legislation, which seeks to standardise the administration, regulation and accountability of sports federations in Uganda.
The amendments also mark a significant shift in sports governance, with local arbitration mechanisms expected to take a more prominent role in resolving disputes that were previously escalated to international sports tribunals.