Soccer Chance Academy Uganda

The 'Who'

Hello I am one of the academy director's of Soccer Chance Academy (SCA) London and SCA Portland (USA). In early 2020, we at SCA began communications with Kakeeto Umar, a Ugandan native, resident and local farmer, who is the founder of the Cranes City Football Academy (CCFA), now SCA Uganda.

Umar had created a program for children to play soccer in the region of Masaka, Uganda.  The intention and aim was to help change the lives of children in the slums of Uganda, through nurturing their football talents and giving them access to quality education.

We have initially made efforts to send equipment to Uganda in the form of balls, kits, etc. Since then we've been working with Umar over the past year and have been inspired by his story and dedication, to create a safe learning environment for his players.



The ' What'

SCA Uganda is facing a number of challenges that with your help, they can overcome. These challenges include:

1. Educating their young people. There are a lot of hardships in getting scholastic materials for the children and raising their school fees/tuition. The funding would provide children with an education uninterrupted and undisturbed, allowing them to flourish in their environments and dream to achieve.

2. Running a full school and soccer program. Most of the children do not have access to quality education or sport opportunities. Therefore, the dream of attending basic education, let alone higher education, feels out if reach for these children. SCA Uganda will allow for those children engaged with SCA Uganda, a full time education opportunity, as well as the soccer development, to aspire to obtain scholarships for higher education institutions, within Uganda, the wider continent of Africa and hopefully around the world. This could open a pathway to a better future, a future those young people can take back to their home communities, creating a positive cycle. 

3. Lack of a home. SCA Uganda currently rents facilities from Kako Secondary School, limiting the time children have for organised team training, and for additional skill practice. A permanent home facility, will enable provision for the children to benefit from residential training without the concern or uncertainty of that opportunity being taken away or limitations to time. This extends to the ability to provide accommodation for vulnerable children within the slums.  

The 'Why'

Please donate to support the education, housing, nutrition, medication and soccer opportunities for children in Masaka, Uganda! Your contributions will be providing an opportunity for children to grow in a safe, positive environment, ultimately flourishing and creating a pathway to a better quality of life, and in turn, influencing and contributing to the growth of their communities. It costs £400 ($550) to cover costs for 25 children per month. A facility with pitches (fields) and accommodation will cost an estimated £4,000 ($5,500). 

Fundraising from this campaign will go towards:

-  The construction of an SCA Uganda training facility which includes living quarters for the children and staff

 - Sponsoring children to gain an education with the Kako Secondary school

 - Food and Water for all students and coaches who live on site

 - Medication for the children to protect and support from harmful viruses and diseases

 - Academy training kit and equipment

The existing facilities at the Kako school will initially house 25 children, with plans to expand and double that number to 50 children within the next two years. 



The 'History'

The below is directly from Umar and an outline as to his passion for young people and the services he provides:

Soccer Chance Academy Uganda is a non profit organisation based in Masaka, Uganda. SCA Uganda was established in 2016 as Cranes City Football Academy by myself (Kakeeto Umar). 

My genuine love for grassroots soccer, attracted both local and international affiliations who have helped us in our work along the way. My desire to develop the talents of young children led me to Ricky Machel and Ben Hanley of Soccer Chance Academy. SCA encourages student-athletes to train hard and study harder, I found this aim similar to what I asked from CCFA athletes.

I needed people to work with in order to make the dreams of our talented young players come true. Since SCA had hugely contributed to the development and activities of CCFA, I knew that they were the right people to partner with, hence asking them to add CCFA to their academy structure. And this led to SOCCER CHANCE ACADEMY UGANDA. We are in the process of getting registered as a non-profit organisation in Uganda and creating partnerships for sponsorships from well wishers worldwide.

In the next five years, through our joint dedicated efforts and the kind contributions offered, we hope this project for children in Uganda (aged 7 to 17years) will achieve the following:

1. Become exemplary in delivering optimum career pursuits and turn into the biggest residential kids football and education academy in East Africa.

2. SCA Uganda will stimulate grassroots football and sport development, such that talented players and studious young people will emerge from our project on regular basis.

3. SCA Uganda will extend its outreach to more children from different East African countries and it will extend the age group to 19years.

4.SCA Uganda will develop a seamless flow of competitions between regions in East Africa and in extension to Africa, hence promoting our grassroots football, partnering with interested football enthusiasts in the world.

Update 4th June 2021

Thanks for the donations so far the academy has begun the process of moving to the facility at Kato school and sourcing more equipment.

Much work is still needed to make the facility suitable to house the children as well as preparing the pitches to make them as good as possible for the training sessions and games that will take place.