King Omedi!

Two years ago, Uganda Cranes striker, Dennis Omedi had to make do with boarding taxis and riding on public transport motor-cycles, commonly known as boda-bodas, to get to work; in this case training and football matches, if the club bus, for whichever team he played for, was not readily available.

Yet, now, Omedi, 29, is the owner of two cars. On Friday, May 30, during the MTN Fufa best footballer awards, Omedi had to find someone to help him drive away his second car, a posh black Subaru, that he won for being voted the best male footballer in 2024.

His first car, the Toyota Rumion was suddenly being treated as a second class citizen. That is how much life has quickly changed for Omedi. From playing in the non-descript regional league, Uganda’s third tier division in 2022, to now plying his trade at one of East Africa’s top football sides, APR FC of Rwanda.

Yet, even with all that grandeur that has happened for Omedi, therein are some people who doubt his worthiness for the country’s top individual football prize. After stealing the headlines, the ever-smiling Omedi, graced in his usual humility was tireless in exchanging pleasantries and sharing photo moments with a host of patrons that attended the awards night.

But that did not stop some from debating whether he deserved the award any more than the Uganda Premier League 2023/24 season best player, Jonah Patrick Kakande. Kakande inspired SC Villa to its first league title in 20 years last year.

And on the back of that, many felt that he was a shoo-in to be Fufa’s best player in 2024. No doubt, Kakande had dazzled. For SC Villa. And perhaps, it is on that backdrop, that he is currently hot property, with several suitors, now that his contract with SC Villa is running out in a few weeks from now.

There will be several takers for Kakande. From Vipers SC to KCCA FC, two teams that are keenly following how Kakande’s negotiations with Villa go. Word has it that both Kakande and Villa and not so near to agreeing on a contract extension, unless otherwise.

But back to the elephant in the room, which is the Fufa best player award, while Kakande did well for Villa in 2024, statistics show that it was for a short time. Probably until May, when the 2023/24 season ended.

During that period, Kakande had dragged Villa from the jaws of defeat to one or three points on a number of occasions. One of those moments was in Masindi, where Kakande scored a late curling shot for Villa against Kitara FC in a 1-1 draw.

That came on the back of Kakande helping Villa fight from a goal down at halftime against Maroons FC and URA FC in tough games that eventually ended 2-1 for Villa. However, the glowing statistics of Kakande did not mean Omedi was a lame-duck. He tried to push his Kitara side to the championship then, only to lose it on the penultimate day of the season.

Because of Omedi’s 15 league goals, Kitara finished fourth on 54, three points behind Villa. Omedi was the league’s second top scorer, probably a feat for someone playing in the top flight for the first time.

While it is eviddent that Omedi is a late bloomer, he helped Kitara win the Uganda Cup, which saw them play in the Caf Confederation Cup against Al Hilal Benghazi of Libta in August 2024. Kitara lost the two-legged tie against Benghazi 6-4 on aggregate. But rather more interestingly, Omedi scored two of Kitara’s four goals.

It was soon before the Caf games, that Omedi scored a ‘rabona’ goal against KCCA in the Fufa Super Eight tournament, that was nominated at both the Fifa and Caf awards 2024, for the best goal award. Puskas, is what the Fifa award is called.

It was a novelty for a Ugandan footballer to have their work shortlisted in this category. Essentially, Omedi’s goal was marked out as a true advertisement of Ugandan football on the global scene. Omedi’s goal finished third, behind Machester United’s Alejandro Garnacho volleyed strike against Everton, which was voted the best.

Algeria’s Yassine Benzia’s goal came second. It was against South Africa. Speaking of South Africa, the same Omedi, scored a wonderful goal against the Bafana Bafana away in an opening 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.

His goal set the tone for The Cranes to get off to a good start in the qualifiers, which culminated in The Cranes qualifying for Afcon for the first time since 2019. Omedi went on to stake his claim as Uganda Cranes best player that year.

His influence continued to be seen even during the Fifa 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Botswana, where he set up Muhammad Shaban for the 1-0 victory. All through the Cranes campaign, Kakande was nowhere to be seen as much as Omedi. So, on the back of that, is it even a debate that Omedi was the best player in 2024?

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