Lugogo Indoor Stadium

The Lugogo Indoor Stadium in Kampala is a building that has not been left alone. The capacity sits at 846 rather than the thousands planned for a new complex. Held on grimly through decades of wear, the arena still functions as the home for the KCCA Leopards basketball team and the Uganda national netball team (She Cranes).

Its character is defined by its activity. The court floor is new, laid down during a renovation funded by MTN Uganda, and it is used for basketball, volleyball and badminton. This is not a quiet monument; it is a working space where the National Council of Sports (NCS) organises competitions. The Uganda International Badminton Championship and the Africa Youth Games Zone V Volleyball Qualifiers are held here, and the relationship between the facility and the sport is close.

For a long time the place was known as the MTN Arena, but the name is drifting back to Lugogo Indoor Stadium. There has been no formal announcement of the change, yet the old name is fading from the signs. It hosted Uganda’s first and only ice-skating event in 1960, and more recently concerts by Spice Diana and Oliver Mtukudzi.