Local football governing body, FUFA has unveiled matchday balls for all its competitions in the country.
Named Zakayo, the matchday ball is attached to Uganda’s legendary chimpanzee that died in 2018 at 54 as FUFA married wildlife and art.
The FUFA match ball was made with consideration of our heritage as Ugandans. The ball has been made with consideration of the latest trends in terms of texture, design, durability and flight,” said FUFA CEO Edgar Watson.
Zakayo has patches of the three colours of the Uganda flag as black, yellow and red stand for ethnicity, abundant sunshine and brotherhood.
The texture on the ball’s outer skin is designed to offer consistent flight, rate of spin and speed.
There have been extensive experiments with the ball on different grounds, including bare pitches and the texture is suitable to last long enough.
The matchday ball will cost shs 50,000 and shs 100,000 since it has been produced in two categories.
Each Uganda Premier League club has been given 25 balls and 15 balls for each of the Big League and Women Super League teams.
At the same function in Mengo, FUFA also unveiled Janzi as the official FUFA sportswear manufacturer. Janzi will also manufacture Zakayo ,jerseys, travel bags, tracksuits, caps, hats, branded cups, umbrellas etc.
“Janzi is a registered trademark that will help FUFA to avoid middlemen. We all know that several kit manufacturers don’t own factories but only package and sell to us. We believe having our own brand will help us to get these items at a cheaper price,” said FUFA president Moses Magogo.
