The Uganda national football team have represented Uganda in men's international football since the first international match in 1926. It is controlled by Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA), the governing body for football in Uganda, which is affiliated with CAF and comes under the global jurisdiction of world football's governing body FIFA. Uganda competes in the three major international tournaments contested by African nations: the FIFA World Cup, Africa Cup of Nations and African Nations League.
The Uganda Cranes made their debut on 1 May 1926 against Kenya, drawing 1âÂÂ1. In 1962, they qualified for their Africa Cup of Nations debut in the third edition of the tournament, which included only 4 teams. In the semi-finals, the Cranes were defeated and eliminated by the United Arab Republic (2âÂÂ1), and then lost the third-place match against Tunisia (3âÂÂ0).
The Cranes returned to the Africa Cup of Nations in 1974, where they were eliminated in the first round following 2 defeats against Egypt and Zambia and a draw against Ivory Coast. In 1976, they were eliminated in the first round, being defeated by Ethiopia, Egypt and Guinea.
In the 1978 Africa Cup of Nations, the Cranes finished second in the group stages defeating the Republic of Congo (3âÂÂ1) and Morocco (3âÂÂ0) and lost 3âÂÂ1 to Tunisia. In the semi-finals they eliminated Nigeria (2âÂÂ1), and in the finals they were defeated by Ghana (2âÂÂ0).
In 2017 the Cranes qualified for the African Cup of Nations again after 39 years. They finished the tournament in the first round after two consecutive 1âÂÂ0 losses to Ghana and Egypt and a 1âÂÂ1 draw against Mali.
In the qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup, the Cranes progressed to the second round with a 4âÂÂ0 aggregate win against Togo, and were drawn into a group with Egypt, Ghana and the Republic of Congo. They finished the group with 2 0âÂÂ0 draws against Ghana, a win and a draw against the Republic of Congo and a victory against Egypt followed by a defeat at the home of the Pharaohs. The 9 points won were not enough for Uganda to qualify against the 13 of the Egyptians who finished first in the standings.
In the qualifiers for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, the Cranes cruised through qualifiers against Tanzania, Cape Verde and Lesotho. In the competition proper, a 2âÂÂ0 victory against DR Congo meant that the Uganda Cranes had won their first match in the competition for 41 years. In the other 2 games of the group Uganda obtained a draw against Zimbabwe (1âÂÂ1) and a defeat against the hosts Egypt (2âÂÂ0) qualifying in second place, to be eliminated in the round of 16 by Senegal (1âÂÂ0). They qualified for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations after South Sudan beat Congo 3âÂÂ2 on November 14, 2024.
The Mandela National Stadium was closed for renovation in 2019 after the outbreak of COVID-19 after it failed to reach the minimum standards required by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to host international matches. In 2020, the stadium was blacklisted from hosting football games due to its substandard condition. Reconstruction works, undertaken by the UPDF Engineering Brigade, began in 2022, and included the installation of a permanent seats in the stadium, new dressing rooms, a modern scoreboard, as well as the refurbishment of floodlights and the pitch.
The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.
The following players were called up for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations between 21 December 2025 â 18 January 2026.
Caps and goals are correct as of 30 December 2025, after the match against Nigeria.
The following players have been called up in the last 12 months.
(1973âÂÂ2023)
Completely updated and corrected per the cited source on 30 December 2025
Note: Country in italic is not a member of FIFA.
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