Millions Uganda Will Pocket After Winless AFCON 2025 Campaign

Uganda became the latest team to exit the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations following their dramatic but painful 3-1 loss to Nigeria on Tuesday.

However, the Cranes will still go back home with a tidy sum thanks to the huge prize money on offer at AFCON 2025 in Morocco.

Uganda lost to the Super Eagles in a match they needed to win to seal a place in the Round of 16 when a combination of bad luck, poor decisions and the better quality of the Nigerians conspired to send them packing.

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The Cranes had veteran goalkeeper Denis Onyango forced out at halftime due to an injury, at a time when they had already been one goal down thanks to Pual Onuachu’s first-half strike, before his replacement Salim Magoola handled the ball out of his area to receive a red card 11 minutes after coming on.

His replacement Nafian Alionzi, Uganda’s third-choice goalkeeper, was picking the ball out of the net soon after his introduction when Samuel Chukwueze created twice for Raphael Onyedika to score two goals in the space of five minutes for 3-0 although Rogers Mato pulled one back for the East Africans.

This followed a 1-1 draw with Tanzania, a match Uganda should have won had Allan Okello not skied a late penalty. Having started their AFCON 2025 campaign with a 3-1 loss to Tunisia, the Cranes exited the tournament as the last team in Group C after a winless campaign that yielded just one point.

However, for their efforts, Uganda will still be rewarded and will get the lowest amount going to sides that finish last in their groups being $500,000 (Ksh64 million).

It is still a tidy sum although they missed out on $800,000 (Ksh103 million) that will be going to each of the 16 teams that made it to the knockout round.

The Cranes will look to learn from their mistakes of 2025 and use them for a better 2027 tournament when they will be one of the host nations, alongside neighbours Kenya and Tanzania.