By Our Reporter,
NATIONAL
Former Uganda Cranes football star and Express FC coach, Jimmy Muguwa is dead.
Jimmy Jacob Muguwa, as popularly known in the sports arenas hails from Masindi district.
He passed on Wednesday night at a hospital in Masindi at the age of 68yrs.
Born to John Mugenzomu and Edranicho Nansubuga, Muguwa at the age of three years was taken to Mombasa, Kenya where he was raised by his grandfather. While there, he got interested in football as a primary six pupil and started out as a ball boy for Hudson Bay FC, a village team. He later graduated to play for the side in 1969 but later moved to Spaki Heroes, a side owned by former Kenyan national team coach Mohammed Kheri.
In 1970, Muguwa joined Faisal FC of Mombasa and was given KShs 7,000 as sign on fee but his goal was not to play for the team but to use the money to return to Uganda. He managed to come back home in 1971 and settled with his uncle at the Kampala suburb of Mulago. It was at the Mulago Hospital playground that he teamed up with the likes of Jimmy Kirunda, Tom Lwanga, William Kityo, Emma Mugerwa and others.
A youthful Muguwa started out as an all-rounder and could play in all attacking positions and his rare skills attracted Lint FC, which signed him in 1971. After a successful stint at the club, Muguwa became a hot property and was on the verge of signing for Express FC before he chose to move to Second Division side Uganda Commercial Bank in 1973. At UCB, he carved out a niche as an entertainer and scored several goals in a cheeky way, always preferring to use a backheel instead of a simple tap in.
However, UCB was still a lower division side in 1975 but that didn’t stop Muguwa from attracting the attention of Central Province coach Jabaeri Bidandi Ssali, who also doubled as Uganda Cranes Manager and KCC FC coach.
Bidandi drafted him into the Provincial team and it took just a few weeks before Bidandi included him in the Cranes side for the 1975 CECAFA Cup held in Zambia. This was a rare feat for a player in the lower division. Things even got better when UCB gained promotion to the top tier in 1976 and the bankers finished a respectable seventh in their maiden season.
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