Dylan Bettencourt
Hasifah Nassuna became the second member in her family to compete at the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon).
More than 20 years after her mother Annet Nakimbugwe featured at the tournament held in South Africa, Nassuna took to the field in this year’s edition.
Nassuna was only two years old when her mother debuted at the women’s showpiece in 2000 for Uganda.
But she isn’t banking on the royalty of her family name to carry her through. Nassuna is making a name for herself.
Earlier this year she became the first player in the Ugandan league to score 100 goals.
Her mother also broke records during her playing days, becoming the first goal scorer for Uganda at the Wafcon during the country’s 2-1 win over Reunion Islands.
Nassuna said she is blessed to have a mother that set the foundations for players like her to fly the Ugandan flag.
“This feels good. We are blessed as a family because not everyone has achieved this,” she told CAF Online.
“Whenever my mother talked about the Wafcon, I always wondered if I could ever get a chance to play in this tournament. But look at me now. Here I am!”
The mother and daughter pair have even shared the field, playing against each other in their local league.
Nassuna captained Uganda to lift the Council for East and Central Africa Football
Associations (Cecafa) Women’s Championship last month but now their goal is to qualify for the Fifa World Cup.
“Now that we are here, our target is to qualify for the World Cup. We know we can do it as a team, but we know we have to perform well,” she said.
“We want to qualify from the group stages because everyone here sees us as the underdogs. This is our first time and only the second time for Uganda to be in this tournament. We want to work hard so that we qualify for the quarter-finals.”
Unfortunately for Uganda, the team lost their opening fixtures against Morocco and Senegal and are now unable to progress in the tournament.
Image source: @Cecafa
