FUBA disappointed with the Namuwongo Blazers pull-out as NBL play-offs start

This year’s FUBA league playoffs throws-off on Friday without last year’s finalists the Nam Blazers who recently opted out of the league after a FUBA communication indicated the winner of this ongoing season will not represent Uganda at the Basketball Africa League (BAL).

Addressing a press conference ahead of the playoffs at Fairway Hotel on Thursday, FUBA vice president-administration Hudson Ssegamwenge explained that since they had no prior knowledge about their decision, they had decided to proceed with the playoffs after re-ranking them from second to ninth position.

“As basketball enthusiasts, we are disappointed by their decision because they are a big team and fans would have loved to see them compete, but as a federation we need to move on,” Ssegamwenge stated.

FUBA CEO Marcus Kwikiriza explained that the reason for having no Ugandan representation at the next BAL games was to ensure the league starts in January to allow FUBA’s potential commercial partners to begin the year with them so that it is easier to plan their expenses towards the league.

“All teams in Africa these days have one goal in mind and that is BAL whose calendar starts post-October. If our league is still going on in October, it will disorganise our league and the winning team doesn’t have enough time to prepare for BAL,” Kwikiriza noted.

“If we start it in January, the league will end in June, July; which gives all the teams that have won enough time to prepare for BAL. So our decision wasn’t selfish, malicious and nobody pre-planned it because every single team wants to secure their place in BAL. Namuwongo just withdrew and we had no hand in their decision,”

The playoffs start with no guaranteed prize money but Kwikiriza exuded optimism that there will be before the finals because they were still in talks with potential sponsors for the same.