Legendary Ugandan goalkeeper Denis Onyango announced on Monday that he has decided to retire from playing for the Uganda national team, putting an end to a 16-year spell as the Cranes’ ever-present and reliable backstop. The accomplishments are too long to list for Onyango, but chief among them are winning CAF’s award for Best African-based Footballer in 2016, a CAF Champions League title (2016) and Super Cup victory (2017) with Mamelodi Sundowns and six top-level titles in South African football.
His achievements with Uganda’s national team include leading the Cranes to their first Africa Cup of Nations appearance in nearly forty years for the 2017 edition, and then helping the team to the knockout round 2019’s tournament in Egypt. The 35-year-old announced his decision after Uganda’s qualifying campaign for the 2021 AFCON ended in elimination against Malawi in late-March. Check out the articles of tribute to Onyango’s stellar career below.
UPDATE: The latest news coming out of Ugandan media is that Onyango has retired from playing for Uganda due to a myriad of issues relating to the Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA)’s management of the team and unpaid bonuses for the team’s African Nations Championship appearance in January. Kawowo has plenty more on the details that revolve around Onyango’s leaked audio comments and FUFA president Moses Magogo’s response.
