Why Uganda might have the world's most passionate Arsenal fans

Arsenal fan Agnes Katende wrapped in an Arsenal flag looks over her shoulder at the camera in a garden in Kampala.
[BBC / Wycliffe Muia]

Arsenal fans in Uganda partied well into the early hours this week, outside video halls and bars across the country, after their team's stunning victory over Real Madrid.

The north London-based team won 3-0, at home, in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final stage.

Such was the passion, the joy and the adulation shown to midfielder Declan Rice and his free kicks, you would be forgiven for thinking Arsenal was homegrown.

Whenever the club play, the East African nation knows about it. Alongside Manchester United, they are one of the English Premier League (EPL) teams with the biggest support in the country.

Church services, packed with fans decked in the Gunners' red and white colours, have been held before big matches - with prayers offered up for a side that sometimes looks as though it needs divine assistance.

The passion for Arsenal and other English clubs has spawned an entire industry in Uganda, with shops and vendors selling jerseys and bigger companies targeting their advertising around the results, while for sports betting companies it is massive business.

Arsenal fans wearing the red and white shirts being arrested by police in 2023
In 2023, a group of Arsenal fans were arrested in Uganda for holding a victory parade after beating Manchester United [Jacobs Odongo Seaman]

"I have covered football across Africa for many years and I can tell you without a doubt that the soccer enthusiasm in Uganda is on another level," veteran sports journalist Isaac Mumema told the BBC.

For Swale Suleiman, a Manchester United fan and mechanic I met at a garage in the capital, Kampala, the excitement lies in the fact that EPL matches are competitive, entertaining and sometimes unpredictable and even a "small team can cause an upset".

Ugandan fan clubs have been set up for all the top English sides. WhatsApp groups keep the debates going beyond halls and bars.

But Arsenal fans seem to take it to another level - some have even been arrested for holding victory parades without police notice after winning big matches.

However, this type of fandom also has a much uglier side, with the love for the game sometimes turning to deadly violence as tempers flare between rival supporters.

"Our people naturally get attached to something wholeheartedly and Ugandans really love football," Uganda Football Coaches Association (UFCA) chairman Stone Kyambadde told the BBC.

"This soccer fanaticism has even grown stronger with the young generation because they watch the English Premier League from anywhere," he said.

They can ...

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