A month after relieving Serbian Milutin Micho Sredojevic of his duties as Ugandan national football team Uganda Cranes’ head coach, the Federation of Uganda Football Association (Fufa) unveiled a new coach, Paul Joseph Put.
Fufa president Moses Magogo, the powerful MP and husband to Speaker of Uganda’s Parliament Anita Annet Among with whom they have twins, presented the 67-year-old Belgian as the magic bullet to Ugandan football woes.
Magogo said: “Coach Paul Put helped Burkina Faso reach the final of Afcon in 2013, guided Guinea to a quarterfinal finish and also helped The Gambia to qualify for Afcon. With such a CV, we believe the coach will do a good job here.””
But what Magogo did not say of Coach Put, whom he has awarded a two-year contract after he beat 119 other applicants to the job to replace Micho, is his controversial dirty past.
Coach Put is a man of many scandals. These include alleged match-fixing. The
Belgian football association banned Coach put for three years starting 2008 after he was named in a match-fixing scandal. Coach Put insisted he was innocent of any involvement.
Some eleven years later, the Guinea Football Federation (Feguifoot) banned Coach Put from engaging in football coaching, administration and any other related activities for life.
Put got into trouble over his alleged breach of Feguifoot’s code of ethics and its code of discipline.
For now, the powerful Magogo has given Coach Put a job and as long as he does what Micho failed to do, he will enjoy his contract.
After taking over with immediate effect, Put is expected to lead Uganda in its 2026 World Cup qualifier campaign starting with a game against Guinea in the Group G opener in Conakry on November 17.
Uganda Cranes will also have to beat off competition from Algeria, Somalia, Botswana, and Mozambique.
