NEC

Okao Jacob's name comes up whenever NEC's second season in the Uganda Premier League gets discussed, and for good reason: the club, barely two years out of the second tier, finished as runners-up. That climb had started at Bugolobi Coffee Grounds, before promotion moved the team to the MTN Omondi Stadium in Lugogo.

NEC belongs to Uganda's army. The National Enterprise Corporation, the business wing of the Uganda People's Defence Forces, owns the club, with Lt. Gen. James Mugira serving as patron and Eng. Brian Buhanda as chairman.

Hussein Mbalangu was in charge of the bench through that historic second season; NEC replaced him with Badru Kaddu Mukasa in late 2025. Silverware beyond the Big League has stayed just out of reach — a runners-up finish in the Stanbic Uganda Cup in 2024, third place in that year's FUFA Super 8, and second again in the 2026 edition. That rivalry with KCCA, played out as the "Lugogo Derby" since both clubs share the same corner of the city, sits alongside the "Ugandan Forces Derby" against Gaddafi FC as the fixtures Diehards supporters mark on the calendar.