Mbarara City

Mbarara sits in the west of Uganda, in territory that once belonged to the Ankole kingdom, and the club that carries the city's name still wears that history in its nickname, the Ankole Lions. It did not start out representing the town at all: in 2010 the management of Citizens High School put together a side called Citizens FC to give local boys somewhere to develop as footballers. Only in July 2016 did the club take the name Mbarara City, a change made to speak to the whole city and the wider Ankole region rather than one school.

The climb since then has had a shape to it. As Citizens FC they took the Western Uganda Regional League in 2014, which was worth a place in the second-tier FUFA Big League. Three years later, now playing as Mbarara City, they beat Synergy FC 2–1 in the Big League playoff final to reach the Uganda Premier League for the first time. They held their own there for five seasons before finishing 15th in 2021–22 and dropping back down, then found no answer to Kitara FC. Instead they answered the drop itself, returning as runners-up in the 2022–23 Big League to win an immediate route back to the top flight.

A national cup has stayed out of reach, though the run to the Uganda Cup semi-finals in 2021–22 showed cup football has its own rules. Games against Tooro United FC, the other side flying the flag for the west, are billed as the Western Uganda Derby and matter more locally than the league table often suggests.

Jude Ssemugabi wore the captain's armband before leaving for Kitara FC, and it was that move, not his time at Mbarara, that put him in position to earn his first Uganda cap in 2024.