Why may Uganda have the most Arsenal fans in the world

Arsenal fans in Uganda participated in the early hours of this week, outside the video and bars halls throughout the country, after their amazing team beat Real Madrid.

The North London team won 3-0, at home, in the first stage of the Champions League final.

This was the emotion, joy and acting that shows midfielder Diklan Rice and his free kicks, you will be forgiven to think that Arsenal was local.

Whenever the club played, the East Africa nation knows about it. Besides Manchester United, it is one of the Premier League teams (EPL) with the largest support in the country.

Church services, full of fans, have been held on red and white colors, before large matches – with prayers to a side that sometimes appears as if it needs divine help.

Arsenal’s passion and other English clubs have been born in the entire industry in Uganda, where stores, sellers sell shirts and largest companies that target their ads about results, while for sports betting companies are huge business.

“I have covered football throughout Africa for many years, and I can tell you without a doubt that the enthusiasm of football in Uganda is at another level,” Isaac Mismima, veteran sports journalist, told the BBC.

For Swale Soleman, one of the Manchester United and mechanic fans I met in a garage in the capital, Kampala, excitement is the fact that EPL matches are competitive, entertaining and sometimes unpredictable and even “the small team can cause turmoil.”

Ugandan fans’ clubs were created for all English aspects. WhatsApp groups keep the discussions exceed the halls and bars.

But it seems that Arsenal fans move him to another level – even some of them were He was arrested due to the contract of victory marches Without notifying the police after winning the big matches.

However, this type of Fandom also has a much maximum aspect, as the love of the game sometimes turns into deadly violence as fans glow between competitors.

“Our people are totally related to something completely and the Ugandans love football,” the head of the UFCA Football Association (UFCA) told BBC.

“This football fanatic has grown stronger with the young generation because they are watching the Premier League from anywhere,” he said.

They can keep up with the scores on their phones, but it is basically a joint event and even the most remote village will contain a temporary video hall where fans will be packaged to watch the matches.

But for a funeral, the villagers met near Lake Victoria last December, to bury a 30 -year -old carpenter who was shot dead while celebrating Arsenal’s victory over Manchester United.

The spokesman expressed his regret for the loss of John Sinang, who was a defender throughout his life.

He was watching the match in a video hall in the town of Lukaya – and when the automatic chanting of Arsenal fans erupted after the final whistle, they disturbed their competitors, including a security guard, who was said to have pulled the trigger.

Earlier this season, about 300 km (186 miles) in the southwestern region of Kabali, Benjamin Nadamuhaki was exposed to Manchester United fans to death at the hands of a supporter of good after the two argued over the results of the epic clash between Arsenal and Liverpool.

In 2023, there were four Premier League deaths in different parts of the country-two fans were killed in Arsenal by UTD supporters, and one of the fans died in mysterious circumstances after Man UTD was stored by Liverpool and another man died of stabbing him after he tried to interfere in a fight after he lost Arsenal to Man Otid.

Football violence in Uganda dates back to the eighties when local games were characterized by throwing stones and fighting between competing fans.

“There were always violent cases whenever the villa was Villa, as it is the two main local teams in Uganda – she has a large derby,” the sports scientist Lumbuye Linika told me at a football field in Kampala.

But things have become much worse – which blames the position experts for the fanaticism that the gambling feeds, as many men try to gain their livelihood by putting bets.

In a tragic case several years ago, the police said that a man killed himself by poison after losing a bet.

With the online gambling up, it takes only again to put a bet through an application on your phone that brings hope to win Big to associate with the rights of bragging.

Games companies also benefited from the Ugandan mania in EPL, where they created viewerships where fans can watch games and put their bets.

This is where troubles are often fermented – with competing fans raises each other when their bets fail.

“With the limited job opportunities, many football fans resort to betting as a way to earn fast money,” said Amos Caligira, who stopped chatting with me on Monday morning in a street in Kampala when I monitored in the Maggie shirt.

“This has become an intense emotional investment that often rapidly turns into an aggression when football results are not favorable.”

For Mr. Linika, all of this proves corrosion: “Football should make us happy, and Western football is supposed to be a form of entertainment, but here in Uganda, we have a way to earn livelihood, spoil fun.”

But Colines Pongen, a senior official in a decking company in Uganda, said that the industry should not be blamed for football.

“People lack sufficient knowledge about managing expectations and anger,” he told the BBC, noting the industry efforts to encourage the responsible gambling.

With more than 2000 betting stores across the country, it also proves a profitable government, which raised about $ 50 million (40 million pounds) of tax revenues from the gambling last year, according to local media.

Some note that deadly competition is mainly involved in the Arsenal UTD fans, indicating that this has a relationship with age and background.

Mr. Linika, a supporter of Liverpool, said that his team tends to attract an oldest crowd and those that were a little better – with the Arsenal fans base and Man UTD from poor areas.

“We are currently at the top of the Premier League schedule and rarely hear about a fan in Liverpool participating in violence,” he said.

Pamela Ecumar, known as Mama Liverpool because of her enthusiastic sincerity with Reds, agreed that her colleagues from fans know how to manage their emotions “even when we lose.”

But Arsenal Katindi fans laughed when I met them in Kampala – the two women are part of an EPL. Icumar is even part of the fans club only.

For Suleiman Kutsa, Minister of Arsenal Club Arsenal Club in Uganda, the country of drinking in the country is responsible for football violence.

“Some fans watch games while he was drunk and is difficult to manage when their teams lose,” he told the BBC.

Some suggest that returning fans to local stadiums and getting out of the bars can curb hysteria – and help stimulate the Ugandan Premier League.

Mr. Kyambadde said: “The current generation knows only about European football. If we invest more in the domestic league, we can disrupt a lot of attention to foreign games,” with its recognition that it suffers from a bad reputation and lack of strength of the stars.

Former football player Tom Luanga, who played with the national team in Uganda, agreed when the cranes agreed to the 1978 African Nations Cup finals.

He told me in the empty stands at the Philip Omondi stadium in Kampala while we saw a local match: “We are famous because we are used to playing when the stadiums were full. We need to return to that era and manage frenzy with European football.”

Others blame the lack of direct TV broadcast of the Ugandan league retreat.

Asum Pasaleirwa, President of the Ugandan Parliamentary Parliament Club, who was also at the Omondi Stadium, among those trying to strengthen the local game.

“I am among the few members of Parliament who watch local football and we want to see more leaders, even the president, who have arrived in the stadiums to support the local teams,” he said.

But for Mr. Kochsa, who loves the love of Arsenal to the days of players like Nwankwo Kanu and Thierry Henry, the next few weeks are very important.

“Our emotions are now high. We are where we belong and this is definitely our season,” he said in February.

Although their title was finished, they are in a strong position to qualify for the semi -finals of the Champions League for the first time in 16 years, as long as they avoid a disaster in Wednesday’s match against Real Madrid.