The Uganda Secondary Schools Sports Association has ushered in a sweeping regulatory shift aimed at enforcing participation discipline across school competitions, following resolutions passed at its 44th Annual General Assembly held at Front Page Hotel on Saturday, July 26.
In a unanimous decision by all 115 delegates present, the Assembly approved a new eligibility rule that will significantly alter player retention dynamics beginning in 2027.
Under the new directive, any school that qualifies for a higher level of competition be it district, zonal, national or FEASSA and fails to honour the fixture will automatically forfeit all its registered athletes.
The affected players will, in the subsequent year, attain free agent status, allowing them to transfer freely to compliant institutions.
The same sanction will apply to schools serving disciplinary bans, effectively preventing institutions from retaining athletes while inactive or under suspension.
This policy is widely viewed as a decisive move by USSSA to curb habitual no-shows and reinforce accountability within the schools’ sports ecosystem.
The rule comes at a time when several of Uganda’s top schools across different sports disciplines have withdrawn from this year’s Federation of East Africa Schools Sports Association (FEASSA) Games, scheduled for August 12 to 23 in Morogoro, Tanzania.
