Paul Put, Uganda Cranes' new Head Coach and what you didn't know about him

The Federation of Uganda Football Association (FUFA) on Thursday 2nd/November/2023 announced Paul Put (Belgian International) as the new Head Coach of the men's Natioanla Football team, The Uganda Cranes. 

The news came in two months after the Cranes had parted ways with the then Head Coach, Milutin Sredojevic aka Micho, who was shown the exit after failing to guide the Cranes to the upcoming Africa Cup on Nations tournament. The Serbian was replaced by Morley Byekwaso, who was an interim as the team continued the search for a new head Coach.

While Mroley Byekwaso's tenure as interim coach didn't yield much results, Ugandans were hopeful that a fellow countryman would be trusted with the mantle to lead the Cranes to glory for the players + staff and the nation at large.

Unfortunately, this prayer seems to yet be answered, given the new coach is still a foreigner, just like his predecessor. With every new National team coach who may not be so familiar with the Ugandan Sports observers, Ugandans come off as investigators to dig deep and know whether or not to be excited about his appointment.

Despite being at the helm of Uganda's Men's football for the very first time in his career, the Belgian has coached some African nations, including our neighbours Kenya. Among other African countries he as coached are The Gambia, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Congo.

Before starting his coaching journey in Africa, Paul Put was a coach at three Belgian clubs; Geel, Lokeren and Lierse. He was later given a three years by the Belgian Football Federation after being found guilty of helping fix two league matches while manager of Lierse.

Farther still, Put was banned by in 2019 by Guinea while he was the team's head coach.  Despite all these scandals, FUFA president Moses Hashim Magogo went ahead and appointed him as Head Coach, benchmarking on his expertise in coaching other African states.

"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," Said Moses Magogo at a press conference in Kampala.

Put immediately took over his roles and currently preparing the team to play World Cup 2026 qualifiers. As fate would have it, Uganda Cranes' first match of their group is against Guinea on November 17th, who were once Put's former bosses.