Kigezi Homeboyz

Patrick Ochan arrived at Kigezi Homeboyz already carrying a Uganda Cranes cap, and took the pitch as player-coach for a club that had spent most of its life trying to climb out of the regional leagues around Kabale.

The club dropped out of the FUFA Big League in 2021, and it took until 2023, and a play-off win over Buhimba United Saints as Western Regional champions, to get back. Survival in the Big League through the 2024/25 season was its own fight. Then came 2026, and promotion to the Uganda Premier League for 2026/27 — the first time anyone from the Kigezi region has reached the top flight since Horizon FC dropped out after the 2000/01 season, twenty-five years earlier. The club dedicated the promotion to Khalid Latif, who had funded and chaired Horizon FC, the team that had carried Kigezi football before Homeboyz existed.

Cup football has given the Gorillas their sharpest moments rather than their titles: a 4-2 win away at Kitara FC in the 2021 Stanbic Uganda Cup, built on a hat-trick from Dickson Kihanga Niwamanya, and a narrower story this year, a 3-2 loss to Nyamityobora FC despite Clinton Kamugisha also scoring three.

Homeboyz have also learned to let go of what they raise: Joseph Seremba and Charles Waibi both left for NEC FC in the top division before their own club had a route there. Now that route exists.