In a development that has sent shockwaves through Ugandan football,
Buhimba United Saints failed to honour their StarTimes Uganda Premier League
fixture against NEC FC at MTN Omondi Stadium in Lugogo on Wednesday evening,
leaving the home side waiting in vain under the floodlights of one of the
country’s most storied venues.
The match had been scheduled for an 8 PM kick-off, but when the hour
arrived, only NEC FC and match officials were present. Buhimba United Saints —
bottom of the Premier League table and already deep in a relegation crisis —
were nowhere to be seen, their absence making a bad season categorically worse.
"The players refused to travel in protest over salary arrears — a collapse of trust between club and squad that had been building for months."
Salary Revolt at the Root
It has been established that the players themselves made the
collective decision not to travel to Kampala, in protest over outstanding
salary arrears owed to them by the club. The act of defiance, while extreme,
speaks to a broader breakdown in relations between the Buhimba United Saints
squad and the club’s administration — a breakdown that has now spilled
dramatically into the public arena at the worst possible moment of the season.
The no-show marks perhaps the lowest point in what has been an utterly
torrid campaign for the Wakiso-based side, who arrived in the top flight as one
of the league’s newest entrants, full of ambition, but have found the demands
of Premier League football far exceeding their administrative capacity.
FUFA Consequences
The Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA) is expected to
invoke its competition rules swiftly and decisively. Per standard regulations
governing forfeited fixtures, NEC FC are set to be awarded maximum points — a
3-0 walkover victory — while Buhimba United Saints face an additional points
deduction on top of their already calamitous league standing.
The combined effect of the points deduction and the walkover result means that any remaining mathematical hope Buhimba might have held of escaping relegation has effectively been extinguished. The club now awaits FUFA’s formal competition committee ruling, which is expected to officially confirm their demotion to the FUFA Big League.
A Season in Freefall
Buhimba United Saints’ 2025/26 Uganda Premier League campaign had been
a story of mounting despair long before Wednesday’s extraordinary events. The
club had endured a run of ten consecutive defeats heading into this fixture,
conceding 22 goals across that stretch while managing to find the net only once.
Their away record has been particularly grim, with nine losses from their last
ten matches on the road.
The club had also recently parted ways with their coach — Mukasa, who
joined in December last year — with the side having accumulated only six points
under his stewardship. A change in the dugout did little to arrest the slide,
and the underlying structural and financial problems eating at the club’s
foundations have now manifested in the most dramatic fashion possible.
NEC FC Left in Frustrating Limbo
For NEC FC, the circumstances of Wednesday evening were far from
ideal, even if the eventual points reward will be welcome. The hosts had been
in excellent form heading into the match — sitting fifth in the league
standings with 48 points from 27 matches, having gone six games unbeaten with a
clean sheet in each of those outings. Their last victory, a 1-0 win over Kitara
courtesy of Richard Basangwa’s 52nd-minute strike, had extended a run of form
that suggested they were well capable of securing three points through
legitimate footballing means.
Instead, NEC’s players and technical staff were left to stand on an
empty pitch, denied the opportunity to compete and add to what has been a solid
home record. They have not lost a single home match since the season began,
winning 13 of their games at Lugogo.
"NEC had gone six games unbeaten, keeping
a clean sheet in each — a contest denied by an opponent that never
arrived."
Relegation Confirmed in Spirit, if Not Yet
in Writing
While FUFA’s competition committee has not yet formally issued its
ruling, all roads point to Buhimba United Saints being relegated from the
StarTimes Uganda Premier League at the end of this season. With the points
deduction now imminent and the club already rooted to the foot of the table with
no realistic path to survival, the only question remaining is the official
confirmation of their demotion back to the FUFA Big League.
For a club that arrived in the top flight with dreams of establishing
themselves among Uganda’s elite, the 2025/26 season will be remembered as a
cautionary tale about the importance of financial planning, squad welfare, and
institutional stability. The events of Wednesday at Lugogo are merely the
final, unavoidable chapter of a collapse that had been unfolding for months.
FUFA is expected to issue a formal ruling
on the forfeited fixture in the coming days. Buhimba United Saints have not yet
issued a public statement regarding the no-show or the outstanding salary
disputes.
