Coach McKinstry departs his role as Head Coach of Uganda National Team (19 April 2021). 

Winning 2 in every 3 games played, Coach McKinstry departs Uganda with a 67% WIN rate across 18 games (12 wins, 3 draws and only 3 defeats). This represents the strongest 'win' and 'undefeated' rate of any Uganda national team coach in over 15 years.

 

“I have today reached an agreement with FUFA to bring to an end my role as Head Coach of the Uganda men’s national team.

It has been my pleasure to work with dedicated staff and players to develop the Uganda Cranes since 2019 - a period that saw us win 2 in every 3 games, recording a 67% WIN rate - including 12 wins, 3 draws and only 3 defeats across our time together.

It was particularly rewarding to lead Uganda to victory in the CECAFA Challenge Cup 2019 by winning all of our games, something which has only been achieved once before by Uganda in their history.

My thanks also to the wider football fraternity in Uganda for their support over the last 18 months, and to the players and staff for their contribution and efforts during our time together.

I wish both FUFA and the Uganda Cranes the very best in seeking to move forward.”

  

 

Notes / Highlights: 

As Head Coach of the Uganda National Team, the 'Uganda Cranes' (2019 - 2021) Coach McKinstry delivered a WIN from 2 in every 3 games and went undefeated in over 8 in every 10 games played.  This represented the highest 'win' and 'undefeated' rate achieved by a Uganda National Team Coach in over 15 years, a standard that can be considered high not only in Uganda but also by international standards.   

In his first 3 months in charge, he had led Uganda to win CECAFA 2019; had put Uganda top of their AFCON qualification group; and secured 9 wins and 1 draw from his first 10 games. 

In winning CECAFA 2019, Uganda did so by winning all six of their matches, scoring fourteen goals and conceding just two.  Winning CECAFA for a record 15th time, it was only the second time in Uganda's history that they had done so by winning every game they played in the tournament. 

While the COVID-19 pandemic led to delayed fixtures and interrupted development, Coach McKinstry led Uganda to a further win in their AFCON qualification campaign and then an unfortunate 1-0 away loss (against South Sudan, where Uganda were forced to play for 70 minutes with only 10 men after an early red card incident.  A separate penalty goal a few minutes later placed Uganda at a further 1-0 disadvantage).  This away loss represented the Senior National ‘A’ Team’s first and only loss under Coach McKinstry's tenure; and the penalty goal was the only goal conceded by Uganda under Coach McKinstry in their AFCON qualification campaign. 

At the end of week 2 of AFCON qualification, Uganda sat second in their group (2 Wins, 1 Draw, 1 Loss), only one point behind the group leaders, with qualification places awaiting for the top-2 finishing teams. Under Coach McKinstry, Uganda were also the only team of all 48 nations in AFCON qualification to have conceded ZERO goals from open play.

Elsewhere, under Coach McKinstry Uganda replicated their previous tournament performances at the African Nations Championship (CHAN 2020). 

In AFCON, given the strong overall performance and 7 points secured by Uganda under Coach McKinstry in qualifications weeks 1 and 2, it had been projected by International FIFA Rankings experts ‘We Global Football’ that Uganda, would very likely qualify for the finals of AFCON [88% probability, comparing favourably to the other teams in the group - Burkina Faso 98%, Malawi 12%, South Sudan 2%].

Coach McKinstry was however not in charge for the final week (March 2021) of AFCON qualification fixtures against Burkina Faso and Malawi. In his absence Uganda failed to secure the 2 points necessary to qualify. In the earlier fixtures against these same teams, under Coach McKinstry Uganda had secured 4 points (a 2-0 home win and an important away draw).

In these circumstances, Coach McKinstry has reached an agreement to depart his role as Head Coach of the Uganda National Team.

 

Overall, Coach McKinstry led Uganda for 18 matches - winning 12 (67%), drawing 3 (17%) and losing only 3 (17%); scoring 30 goals and conceding 11 (Goal Difference: +19). Comparing games under his management with the same number of games immediately before his appointment, he had improved Uganda's win ratio by 103% (67% Win vs 33% Win previously).

  

 

Uganda results under Coach McKinstry

13/10/2019	Ethiopia	0 - 1	Uganda (w)
19/10/2019	Uganda (w)	3 - 0	Burundi
13/11/2019	Burkina Faso	0 - 0	Uganda (d)
17/11/2019	Uganda (w)	2 - 0	Malawi
07/12/2019	Uganda (w)	3 - 0	Burundi
09/12/2019	Somalia	0 - 2	Uganda (w)
11/12/2019	Eritrea	0 - 2	Uganda (w)
15/12/2019	Uganda (w)	4 - 1	Djibouti
17/12/2019	Uganda (w)	1 - 0	Tanzania
19/12/2019	Uganda (w)	3 - 0	Eritrea
12/11/2020	Uganda (w)	1 - 0	South Sudan
16/11/2020	South Sudan	1 - 0	Uganda (l)
01/01/2021	Cameroon	1 - 1	Uganda (d)
04/01/2021	Zambia	0 - 2	Uganda (w)
07/01/2021	Niger	0 - 3	Uganda (w)
18/01/2021	Rwanda	0 - 0	Uganda (d)
22/01/2021	Uganda (l)	1 - 2	Togo
26/01/2021	Uganda (l)	2 - 5	Morocco

 

 

  

 For more information on Coach McKinstry's performance across a number of his roles to date, you can read 'REVIEW: 20 Years of Coaching - Highlights and Key Stats (March 2021)'