URA captain, Shafik Kagimu has been named amongst the five best footballers of the year 2021. This follows his nomination in the Airtel FUFA Player of the Year Awards.
The event was held at the Stonehaven Malcolm X hotel in Kololo where the Federation of Uganda Football Association (FUFA) has today, Thursday, October 21 officially launched the 2021 Airtel FUFA Awards.
This year’s theme will be “Celebrating Uganda’s Finest Football Personalities” and without a single double a doubt, Kagimu has been exceptional in 2021 – he deserves to be on the very shortlist.
Kagimu will battle with four others including Express FC striker Erick Kambale and Vipers trio of Yunus Sentamu, Bobosi Byaruhanga and Aziz Kayondo before the ultimate single Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the year will be announced on the 4th of December 2021, at the Speke Resort Hotel, Munyonyo.
The Awards are meant to award excellence, by motive of recognizing and appreciating special football talents, and it is clear that the Ugandan club coaches and captains each nominated five candidates for the award.
In the previous StarTimes Uganda Premier League (UPL) season, the URA captain was instrumental as the Tax Collectors were only unlucky to miss out on the league title by just a point to eventual Champions Express FC.
Kagimu’s stats as a midfielder are so attractive already, yet his contribution is more than scoring or assisting goals. His top-class, unmatched consistency and exemplary leadership judged from performance were highly influential.
Efficient, Kagimu only missed two of 26 league games as he sat out of the Bright Stars and SC Villa games with injury.
Playing from the midfield position, Kagimu was just a goal away from hitting double figures last term when the season was cancelled with him counting nine goals and six assists to his name.
In 2021, Kagimu has also captained URA back to continental football after so many years. URA is in the CAF Confederation Cup second preliminary round, where the Tax Collectors still have a huge chance of qualification following a barren stalemate against Al-Masry in the first leg last Saturday at Kitende, as the second leg is on this weekend on the 3rd of October in Egypt.
Kagimu’s excellence has been complemented by a number of national team appearances, where he most relevantly on both occasions assisted Saidi Kyeyune as he scored two stunning goals for Uganda in the CHAN tournament earlier this year.