Saturday, November 12th, several NVL games were played at MTN Arena, with the biggest game of the day being UCU against OBB, in which a 3-2 setback surprised the defending champions.
MTN Arena Lugogo is the focal point for a variety of indoor sports in the country, with basketball reaping significant benefits from hosting the National Basketball League, NBL there. The most recent NBL league playoffs produced possibly the largest turnout for a league final.
In 2019, the NVL was mostly played outdoors at Sport-S grounds, UCU grounds, and Nkumba grounds. To cap off the league, UVF held the league playoffs at the MTN Arena Lugogo.
COVID-19 lockdown halted all contact sports for nearly two years. The NVL returned in 2021-2022, with 80% of regular league matches held at the newly constructed Old Kampala Sports Arena.
Fans expected the season playoffs to be held at the MTN Arena, but the federation decided it had no choice but to stay at Old Kampala because the Lugogo venue was fully booked on scheduled match days.
The 2022/2023 season saw a large turnout at the league launch. Ndejje University shared the spoils with Nemo Stars in a 3-2 win for the former, with Sport-S’ 3-0 victory over defending champions OBB drawing the most attention.
The league returned to the Old Kampala Sports Arena, but not for long; week 8 fixtures were held last Saturday at the MTN Arena in Lugogo. Does this imply that fans will watch league games at this venue regularly?
According to a post on the official Uganda Volleyball Federation Twitter page, the Minister of State for Education and Sports, Hon. Peter Ogwang, paid a visit to the federation at their offices at Unicalo Building and discussed matters pertaining to the fair distribution of time to all indoor sports federations in the utilization of the MTN Arena.
The visit took place about three weeks ago, just before matches at the MTN Arena. The return of the National Volleyball League to Lugogo will delight fans because the venue is strategically located in Kampala’s sports hub.
