This is part of multinational oil company Total’s prize money that will have the winner get $4m (sh14.7b) and runner-up $2m (sh7.3b). All the participating teams in the June 21 to July 19 tournament in Egypt are entitled to a share of the sponsor’s cash.
This is all on top of another hefty sum Africa soccer governing body gives all qualifying teams to prepare for the tournament. The reward structure of the eight year Total contract starting 2017 has the fourth team in each group getting $475,000.
The third team gets $575,000 (sh2.1b) from the French oil multinational. The Cranes fi nished bottom after securing only a point at the 2017 edition in Gabon. They drew 1-1 with Mali after losing to Ghana and Egypt. Uganda last year qualifi ed for this year’s edition of the biennial competition after topping her group. The Cranes however on Sunday wound up the qualifiers with a 3-0 humiliation by Tanzania.
Total’s sponsorship package signed in 2016 with CAF also entitles the Champions League winner with $2.5m (sh9.1b). Total in the same sponsorship deal offers the Confederation Cup winner $1.25m (sh4.5b). CAF and Total reached an agreement under which the oil company became the title sponsor of African football for the next eight years. Total replaced telephone company, Orange as the official sponsors of the AFCON.
Total will therefore be seen at more than 1,500 matches at competitions including, the Afcon, African Nations Championship (CHAN), CAF inter-club competitions (CAF Champions League, CAF Confederation Cup and CAF Super Cup). They will also be in CAF U-23, U-20 and U-17 competitions, Women Africa Cup of Nations and the Futsal Africa Cup of Nations.
The Cranes put up a very dismal performance if not the worst in the recent past as they succumbed to a 3-0 loss against the Taifa stars of Tanzania on Sunday evening in Dar es Salaam at the Taifa stadium.
Leading to the Sunday game with 13 points from 5 games already qualified from group L the Cranes were yet to lose a game in the AFCON 2019 qualifying campaign and were the only side yet to concede a goal however all this came to an end in a very humbling manner.
“It’s not like we underrated Tanzania or anything like that, we prepared very well for this game because we wanted to pick a descent result but what made the difference was the hunger of the Tanzanians and attitude,”
Desabre stated.
“We played very well in the first 15 minutes as we tried to control the game but you could see that they (Tanzanians) were hungrier and showed intent. Luckily, they scored before us as we failed to respond quickly. In the second half, we conceded a silly penalty and this boosted their confidence. We tried to press and create some chances but seemed a little too late,” he added.
Desabre defended his decision to rest Juuko and midfi elder Khalid Aucho.
“We had to make a few changes to our squad because some were suspended whereas others risked getting booked and getting suspended. We opted to use the opportunity to assess some other players to see how they handle themselves in conditions similar to those we expect at the final tournament in Egypt later this year.”
“Ugandans shouldn’t lose trust in their team, we have seen what needs to be done with all the players and promise to improve everything.”
