Then came a 39-year absence. Uganda returned at Gabon 2017 as the best runners-up in qualifying, level on points with their group winners Burkina Faso, and Farouk Miya’s goal against Mali was their first at a finals since 1978. Two years later in Egypt, Patrick Kaddu and Emmanuel Okwi beat DR Congo 2–0 for the Cranes’ first finals win in 41 years, before a Sadio Mané goal for Senegal ended their run in the last 16.
Paul Put, the Belgian who took Burkina Faso to the 2013 final, brought Uganda back again for Morocco 2025. They went out in the group stage with one point, from a 1–1 draw with Tanzania in the first meeting of the two neighbours at a finals.
The next tournament comes to them. In September 2023 CAF named Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania joint hosts of AFCON 2027, the first edition staged by three countries, and Uganda’s place is already secured. In qualifying Group H against Tunisia, Libya and Botswana only the best-placed of the other three goes through; the Cranes open away to Tunisia on 24 September 2026 and host Libya on the 29th.