Kitara FC: Uganda Football Club From Hoima, The Royals, Honours and CAF Story

Kitara FC, known as The Royals, are a Ugandan football club from Hoima in the Bunyoro region, founded in 2010 by communities across Bunyoro. They won their first Stanbic Uganda Cup on 25 May 2024 and met Al Ahly in the CAF Confederation Cup in October 2026, earning a place in the club's continental history. If you follow soccer in Johannesburg or football in Lagos and Accra, picture a young regional club that climbed from the second tier to a continental competition in successive seasons.

Kitara's history includes where the name comes from, how The Royals won promotion and then a cup in consecutive seasons, and what the Kitara vs Al Ahly tie meant for an East African club. The Kitara fixtures, results, table and squad sit in live modules that update after every match. Think of it like a matatu route board in Nairobi: the times change every day, but the route and the stops stay the same.

Who Are Kitara FC, The Royals of Hoima?

Kitara FC are a club built by a region, founded in 2010 by local communities in Bunyoro who wanted a team carrying their name into national football. The founders took their inspiration from Kabalega, the Bunyoro king. So, for a reader meeting Kitara for the first time, the simplest description is a club of regional pride that reached the top flight in 2023 and the continent in 2024.

Where Is Home, and What Does the Name Kitara Mean?

Kitara hosted Al Ahly at Hoima Stadium on 17 October 2026; each fixture entry identifies its venue. The name reaches back to Bunyoro-Kitara. So, when the club calls itself Kitara, it borrows the full weight of that history, much as a Ghanaian side might carry the name of an Asante king onto its shirt. In my opinion, that sense of belonging is the club's strongest asset.

How Did Kitara Climb From the Big League to the Uganda Cup?

The climb began with the FUFA Big League, Uganda's second tier, which Kitara won in the 2022/23 season to earn promotion to the Uganda Premier League. Newly promoted clubs often spend a first season simply staying up, but Kitara finished fourth in 2023/24, three points behind champions SC Villa. That run told the rest of the league that The Royals had arrived with a squad built to compete, not to survive.

The cup trophy followed on 25 May 2024. On 25 May 2024 Kitara beat NEC 1-0 in the 50th Stanbic Uganda Cup final at Muteesa II Stadium, Wankulukuku, and it was the first Uganda Cup title in the club's history. Both finalists were newly promoted, and reaching the final was a first for each, which made it one of the more unusual finals the competition has seen. Substitute Solomon Okwalinga scored the only goal around the 73rd minute (reports place it between the 73rd and 75th). Goalkeeper Jamil Kiyemba was named most valuable player and best goalkeeper of the tournament, a fair reward for a side that won the final by keeping the door shut.

Why Do Kitara Matter in African Football?

Kitara matter because the Uganda Cup is a direct route into Africa, and winning it in 2024 gave them Uganda's place in the 2024/25 CAF Confederation Cup, their continental debut. Kitara's 2024 Uganda Cup victory secured their place in the 2024/25 CAF Confederation Cup. That is how a club founded by communities in Hoima ended up in the same competition as sides from Nigeria, South Africa and Ghana. For readers in Lagos or Durban, Kitara are best understood as the Ugandan entrant that a home club could meet in the early rounds.

The Kitara vs Al Ahly tie in the 2026/27 Confederation Cup second preliminary round took place in October 2026. On 17 October 2026 Gaddafi Wahab gave Kitara the lead in the 30th minute at Hoima Stadium, before Al Ahly came back to win 2-1. The return leg in Cairo on 25 October 2026 finished 4-0 to the Egyptian club, who went through 6-1 on aggregate and reached the group stage.

It could be argued that the first half in Hoima was the real story, because a club promoted in 2023 led Al Ahly for a spell. Gaddafi Wahab's goal in Hoima forms part of Kitara's 2026 continental history.

How Do You Read Kitara Fixtures, Results and the Table?

The live modules above this copy carry everything that changes with results: the Kitara fixtures and results, the Uganda Premier League table (the log, as South African readers call it), the squad list and the club's top scorers. Each fixture entry gives the opponent, date, venue and competition, so a Uganda Premier League game and a Stanbic Uganda Cup tie are easy to tell apart. Start times are shown in East Africa Time, because Hoima runs on EAT, and the conversion is simple to keep in your head. A 4pm EAT start in Hoima is 2pm WAT in Lagos, 3pm SAST in Johannesburg and 1pm GMT in Accra, and Nairobi shares the same clock as Kampala.

Who Are the Key People Behind Kitara?

The names that matter most belong to the cup winning era. Deo Kasozi became club president in July 2022 and served a term of three years, a spell that covered the Big League title, promotion and the first Uganda Cup. Brian Ssenyondo was head coach in 2023/24, guiding a promoted side to fourth place and a trophy in the same season. On the pitch, Solomon Okwalinga will always be the man who came off the bench to win the 2024 final, while Jamil Kiyemba took the tournament's top individual honours from between the posts. Gaddafi Wahab joined that list in October 2026 with the goal against Al Ahly, and the current squad and coaching staff are listed in the squad module.

What Have Kitara Won?

Kitara hold two major honours, the FUFA Big League title in 2022/23 and the Stanbic Uganda Cup in 2024. The first brought promotion to the Uganda Premier League, and the second brought a place in African club football, so each title opened a new door rather than simply filling a cabinet. Their best league finish in the top flight to date came in their debut season, fourth in 2023/24, and the honours list is kept current in the club records module beside the table.

From Bunyoro to Cairo: The History in Brief

The story runs from a community idea in 2010 to a night in Cairo in October 2026, and most of the major moments sit within the last few seasons. Accounts of the years before 2022 differ, including the divisions Kitara played in and when they moved between them, so the timeline here begins with the founding and then the dates that every record agrees on. That keeps it clean for a reader who wants the facts in order without having to weigh one version against another.

The pace of the rise is the part worth remembering. Kitara went from second tier champions in 2022/23 to cup winners in May 2024, then to their CAF debut in 2024/25, and back into the Confederation Cup in 2026/27. For a club still young by African standards, that is a quick turn, and it shows how the Uganda Cup can reward a side that peaks in the right month. The table below sets the moments out by date.

How Can You Watch and Follow Kitara From Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana and Uganda?

Ugandan and Kenyan readers have the easiest route, because Uganda Premier League matches run on EAT and kick off at the same moment on both sides of the border. Where each match is shown varies by country and by competition, so the where to watch details sit in the data beside each fixture rather than in this copy, and they update as rights change. For league games, the fixtures module and the Uganda Premier League table are the two places to check, and the results module fills in shortly after the final whistle.

For readers in Nigeria, South Africa and Ghana, Kitara are most likely to appear on CAF nights, when Confederation Cup ties are carried by CAF broadcast and streaming partners in each country. During the Al Ahly tie in October 2026, many fans across the continent followed the score through live score apps as well as the broadcast. So, if you want to catch The Royals, save the club's fixtures page, convert the EAT start to your own zone, and check the where to watch line on the day of the match.