Kampala, Uganda – For all along many people especially football lovers , have been asking themselves why they are denied chance to watch matches involving Uganda Cranes at Namboole with a reason that all tickets have been sold out, but end up seeing some empty chairs during the match.
This week, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) clarified why there has been empty seats in most of the CHAN 2024 matches played at Namboole Stadium.
Dr. Dennis Mugimba, the chairperson of the CHAN local organising committee revealed that , CAF’s policy is to sell a limited percentage of available seats but not to stadium’s full capacity because of safety reasons.
“CAF never says seats are sold out they say tickets are sold out. The number of tickets is always lower than the actual stadium capacity to ensure safety and proper management in case of emergencies or stampedes,” Mugimba stated.
Mandela National Stadium popularly known as Namboole who current seating capacity is 38,000 from it’s 40,000 people it used to hold before renovation.
The reduction in number is attributed to expansion of Media tribune and adjustments in structural columns which blocked some seats.
However Mugimba added that empty seats are not only in some sections of the stadium, but they deliberately spread in all the 16 sections of the stadium, including VIP and VVIP areas.
The same measure has been implemented in Kenya and Tanzania where CHAN 2025 were also hosted.
