Uganda Premier League 2025/26 | Hamz Stadium Nakivubo | Thursday, October 2, 2025 | 8:00 PM EAT
The Uganda Premier League returns to the heart of Kampala tonight as URA FC host NEC FC under the lights at Hamz Stadium Nakivubo. For the Tax Collectors, it’s a chance to ignite their season on home turf after a hard-fought 0-0 draw on opening day.
For us, it’s the grand unveiling of their league campaign, having missed Matchday 1 due to CAF Confederation Cup heroics. This fifth league meeting between the sides promises another chapter in a growing rivalry of this fixture.
URA come into this clash with a point in their pocket, after a great display in Njeru on the opening day of the campaign against BUL FC after a goalless draw.
NEC, meanwhile, step onto the league stage for the first time this season, our opener against Maroons postponed as we battled through CAF Confederation Cup qualifiers, against Nairobi United. Hussein Mbalangu’s side, who pushed for second last season and reached the Super 8 final (losing 2-0 to SC Villa), are brimming with desire to go again.
That penalty shootout win over URA last month—sealed by Benjamin Ochan’s heroics and cool finishes from Mustafa Kizza and co., showed a team growing in mental fortitude.
This is the fifth time URA and NEC lock horns in the UPL, with NEC holding a slight edge: two wins, one draw, and one loss, scoring four to URA’s three. The recent Super 8 stalemate underlined the fine margins: URA’s resolute defending met NEC’s counter-attacking threat, only decided by penalties. Tonight, expect more of the same, a chess match where one mistake could prove costly.
The Head Coach Mbalangu had this to say ahead of this fixture: