HAMZ Cup is in turmoil, group leaders have been defeated in the first Round of 16, teams have been in prison for money.
Mutaasa Kafeero 1-3 Nurmak Life Team.
Arsenal Fans UG 0-1 Born Talent.
On Saturday evening, 5 September 2026, things changed in the HAMZ Cup after the group stage leaders were thrown out of the tournament by teams that qualified for the Round of 16 on a wire
In the first two matches of the last 16, played at HAMZ Stadium Nakivubo War Memorial, second-placed Nurmak Life Team FC in Group G and Born Talent in Group C defeated Mutaasa Kafeero and Arsenal Fans UG who led their Groups G and C without dropping a point.
In the first match of the Round of 16, Nurmak Life Team beat Mutaasa Kafeero 3-1 to reach the Quarterfinals of the HAMZ Cup. Nicholas Jonga opened the scoring in the third minute of the match.
However, in the 18th minute, Brian Tumusiime Matu equalized for Mutaasa Kafeero, while scoring his 12th goal of the HAMZ Cup as the tournament’s top scorer.
With the first half coming to an end, Calvin Peter Emayu scored the second goal for Nurmak Life Team, then Henry Kayemba added the third to see the team advance to the 10 million cash prize pool.
Henry Kayemba scored the third goal in the 75th minute thanks to the skills of Calvin Peter Emayu who was involved in all the goals scored by Nurmak Life Team to advance to the quarterfinals.
In another thrilling match, Born Talent FC Mbuya surprised the crowd by defeating Arsenal Fans Uganda 1-0 with the goal scored by their regular scoring striker Tony Lwanga in the 108th minute.
The match went into extra time after 0-0 in normal play. Arsenal Fans tried to score but Born Talent goalkeeper Richard Mulondo did not allow them as he made around seven saves in the 120 minutes played.
Arsenal Fans UG goalkeeper Ashiraf Kibungo was also present between the sticks as he also managed to make 3 great saves but they failed to help his team.
Born Talent and Nurmak Life Team are now awaiting the winners of the remaining six Round of 16 matches upcoming later this month with the next games set to take place on 10th September 2026 at HAMZ Stadium Nakivubo War Memorial.
On that day at 4:00pm, Kafumbe United under coach Steven Kyakusuuta ‘Coach Messi’ will play Shan David’s from Entebbe under David Wasswa, while Tooro Boys FC will face Namutamba/Ndaiga FC at 1pm (7:00pm).
