Uganda Football Team: Uganda Cranes Squad, Matches, AFCON Record and History

Uganda’s national football team are known as the Cranes, after the grey crowned crane, Uganda’s national bird. They played their first international in 1926, reached the Africa Cup of Nations final in 1978 and won their 15th CECAFA Cup title in 2019. Their history connects East African rivalries with continental meetings against Nigeria and Ghana. If you call the game soccer in Soweto or Pretoria, this is the same national team.

Read the squad by position and club, and check each fixture’s competition, venue and converted kick-off time.

Who Are the Uganda Cranes, and Where Does the Name Come From?

The Uganda Cranes are Uganda's senior men's national football team. The nickname comes from the grey crowned crane, the national bird. The name has spread through the wider family, too, with the beach football team known as the Sand Cranes, who qualified for the 2026 beach Africa Cup of Nations by beating Burundi 13-10 on aggregate.

Check the venue listed for each fixture before planning a journey. Read the kick-off time alongside its time zone, whether you are following from Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana or South Africa.

Who Is in the Uganda Squad?

Read the squad by position: goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders and forwards. Where club and international caps are supplied, the club identifies a player's team and the caps record his international appearances. Check any squad announcement date before treating a list as the selection for a particular international window.

Use the club column to identify the African clubs and leagues represented in Uganda's selection and compare them with players based elsewhere. Uganda also compete in the African Nations Championship, where Uganda reached the quarter-finals in 2024.

A squad list and a starting team answer different questions. The squad shows the players selected for an international assignment; the starting team shows which eleven begin a particular match. Substitutes can change the balance, so consider the available alternatives in each position as well as the starting names.

For a closer reading, compare roles within each position. A midfielder protecting the defence has different responsibilities from one receiving the ball near the opposition penalty area. Likewise, a forward creating space for a teammate may influence an attack without taking its final shot. Those distinctions help explain how players from different club environments fit together.

Uganda Cranes Fixtures and Results: What Time Is Kick-Off Where You Live?

Read each fixture's date, opponent, competition, venue and kick-off time where supplied. Kampala runs on East Africa Time, three hours ahead of GMT, so a 4pm kick-off at Namboole is 4pm EAT in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, 3pm SAST in Johannesburg, 2pm WAT in Lagos and 1pm GMT in Accra. For away matches, check the stated time zone before converting the kick-off.

Read the competition column before the score. An AFCON or World Cup qualifier carries points in a group, a CECAFA tie belongs to the regional calendar, and a friendly is usually a coach testing combinations, so a 1-1 means something different in each. If you follow more than one team, our guide to national teams sets out the Super Eagles, the Black Stars, Bafana Bafana and the Harambee Stars in the same format. That makes it far easier to plan a match day when two of the sides you care about are playing on the same evening.

Where Can You Watch or Follow the Uganda Cranes?

Check any broadcast listing against your country and the competition. A listing for Uganda does not establish availability in Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana or South Africa. Where broadcast information is supplied, check the named service's schedule for the match; where it is absent, consult the fixture and result details available.

Distinguish the start of a programme from the match kick-off when arranging your viewing. For text coverage, check whether a score is marked live, at half time or full time before reading it as a completed result. In a knockout match, also check whether the outcome includes extra time or a penalty shootout.

What Is Uganda's Africa Cup of Nations Record?

Uganda's Africa Cup of Nations story starts in 1962, when they reached the semi-finals at their first attempt, lost 2-1 to the United Arab Republic and then 3-0 to Tunisia in the match for third place. The high point came in 1978, when the Cranes beat Nigeria 2-1 in the semi-final and reached the final, where Ghana won 2-0.

The return came in 2017, the first finals for 39 years, under the Serbian coach Milutin 'Micho' Sredojević. That tournament ended in the group stage, with defeats by Ghana and Egypt and a draw with Mali. In 2019 the Cranes went further, beating DR Congo 2-0, drawing with Zimbabwe and losing to Egypt before a 1-0 defeat by Senegal in the round of 16. They were back for the 2025 finals after South Sudan beat Congo 3-2 in November 2024, and in Group C they lost to Tunisia and Nigeria and drew with Tanzania.

Have Uganda Ever Played at the World Cup?

Use the tournament records module to check Uganda’s World Cup finals appearances and the qualifying results module to follow their route through African qualification. A qualifying appearance and a place at the finals are separate achievements, so distinguish the two when comparing tournament histories.

Read the qualifying format before interpreting the table. Check how many teams advance directly, whether another position offers a further qualifying route, and which criteria separate teams level on points. Goal difference and results between tied teams can have different roles under different competition rules; the order specified for that campaign matters.

For Uganda, comparisons with Kenya and other regional neighbours become more useful when they account for the qualifying stage and opposition. A result in an opening round and a result in a later group belong to different competitive settings. Use dated results to trace a campaign, then the qualification rules to explain what those results meant.

Who Are the Biggest Names in Uganda Football?

The records module lists Uganda’s leading appearance makers and goalscorers. Read the appearance and scoring lists separately, and check their stated update date when comparing players.

Appearances highlight sustained selection, while goals describe one part of a player's contribution. Goalkeepers, defenders and midfielders need a broader reading that considers their role. When comparing generations, also consider how many internationals each team played and which competitions offered those appearances.

Club histories add another perspective to the national story. Follow the clubs and countries listed for a player to understand the African football connections behind his international career. Keep club honours separate from Uganda honours, and attach a year to each achievement so that a career summary remains clear as new players emerge.

Who Coaches the Uganda Cranes, and How Do They Play?

Check the date attached to any head coach listing. Milutin 'Micho' Sredojević managed the Cranes from 2013 to 2017 and again from 2021 to 2023. His first spell included Uganda's return to the AFCON finals in 2017 after a 39 year wait.

At the 2019 finals, Uganda beat DR Congo 2-0 and reached the round of 16, where Senegal won 1-0. To assess how a match was played, read any available line-ups, match events and statistics alongside the final score.

Treat a formation as a starting point for analysis. Watch where the full backs move, which midfielder offers a passing option to the defenders, and how the forwards support one another. The same listed formation can produce different patterns depending on possession and the opponent.

If Uganda need more chances, useful signs include support arriving around the striker and passes reaching players between the opposition's midfield and defence. When protecting space, look at the distance between Uganda's own lines and the cover behind an advancing teammate. These questions make tactical discussion specific without assigning a permanent style to every Cranes side.

Who Are Uganda's Rivals, and Why Do the Cranes Matter Beyond Kampala?

Kenya were Uganda’s first international opponents in 1926. Uganda and Tanzania met in Group C at the 2025 AFCON, where they drew. The CECAFA Cup provides another regional connection across East and Central Africa: Uganda won their 15th CECAFA Cup title in 2019.

Uganda beat Nigeria 2-1 in the 1978 AFCON semi-final, while the Super Eagles beat Uganda in the group stage at the 2025 finals. Ghana won the 1978 final 2-0 and beat Uganda again in the 2017 group stage. Those meetings connect the Cranes' tournament history with the Super Eagles and Black Stars; readers in South Africa can compare Uganda's AFCON record with Bafana Bafana's campaigns.

What Are Uganda's Football Records?

Uganda's first international was a 1-1 draw with Kenya in Nairobi on 1 May 1926, and their 13-1 win against the same opponents on 14 December 1932 remains a landmark result. Uganda lost 6-0 to Egypt in 1995 and to Tunisia in 1999. Read the records module for appearance and goalscoring leaders, tournament appearance totals and other records that can change.