Ismail Watenga (born 15 May 1995) is a

Ugandan Demographic features of the population of Uganda include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and others. Population According to the total population was in , comp ...

professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for

Golden Arrows Lamontville Golden Arrows F.C. are a South African soccer club based in Durban that plays in the Premiership. History It was founded in 1943 in the streets of Lamontville, a township in Durban. The club played in the defunct National Profes ...

and the Uganda national team

Early life and education

Watenga was born in Nakaloke,

Mbale Mbale is a city in the Eastern Region of Uganda. It is the main municipal, administrative, and commercial center of Mbale District and the surrounding sub-region. Location Mbale is approximately northeast of Kampala, Uganda's capital city, on ...

to Muduwa Zaituni and Bwayo Daniel, he is the youngest of three brothers and two sisters. He began his education at Namunsi Primary School before joining Nakaloke Islamic SS for his first year of secondary school (S.1). He later transferred to Manafwa High School in Mbale and then to Busolwe SS. However, due to the school's lack of a UNEB center number, he moved to Tororo Progressive Academy (TOPA), where he completed his Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE). For his A-Level education, he attended St. Mary's secondary school, Kitende, where he completed his Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE). He later enrolled at

Kampala International University Kampala International University (KIU) is a private, not-for-profit institution based in Uganda. It was established in 2001 and assumed chartered status in 2009. In pursuit of the dream to raise the next generation of problem solvers for the Ea ...

(KIU) but chose to leave early to focus on his football career.

Playing career

Watenga began his football journey at the age of six with Kamu Kamu FC, later joining Jami FC in

Kamonkoli Kamonkoli is a town in Budaka District, in the Eastern Region of Uganda. Geography The town is located in Iki-iki county, Budaka district in Eastern Uganda. It lies along '' Iganga-Tirinyi-Mbale'' road approximately 7km from Mbale city an ...

. While attending Manafwa High School, he played for the school’s football team. In 2011, he started his senior club career with

Vipers SC ''Vipers SC'' is a Ugandan professional association football club based in Kitende. Wakiso District. It competes in the Uganda Premier League, the top flight of Ugandan, Ugandan football. The club was founded in 1969 as Bunamwaya FC. They are nic ...

, where he played until 2018, winning the

Uganda Super League The Ugandan Premier League, also known as the StarTimes Uganda Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Federation of Uganda Football Associations. The league was previously known as the Uganda Super League but changed ...

titles in 2015 and 2018. He then moved to Ethiopian Coffee SC on a two year contract, before having a brief stint with

Sofapaka F.C. Sofapaka Football Club (Sofapaka: Sote kama Familia kwa Pamoja Kuafikia Azimio – Kiswahili: ''We as a Family together to achieve a goal'') is a football club, based in Wundanyi, Taita Taveta County. They play their home games at the Wunda ...

in the

Kenyan Premier League The Kenyan Premier League (KPL), officially known as the FKF Premier League, is a professional league for men's football clubs in Kenya. Standing at the top of the Kenyan football league system, the league was formed in 1963 under the Kenya Foo ...

in 2019. In 2020, Watenga signed with Chippa United F.C in South Africa. He later joined Mamelodi Sundowns F.C in 2022 but was loaned to

Marumo Gallants Marumo Gallants is a South African football club based in Bloemfontein, Free State, where they relocated after purchasing the status from Moroka Swallows. They currently play in the 2024–25 Premiership. They played in the Premiership for tw ...

for the season. In 2023, he was loaned to

, before securing a permanent move to the club in August 2023.

International career

Watenga made his debut for the Uganda national team during the 2013

CECAFA The Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (, , , ; officially abbreviated as CECAFA) is an association of the football playing nations in mostly East Africa and parts of Central Africa. An affiliate of the Confederation of Afr ...

Championship in Kenya. In January 2014, coach

Milutin Sredojević Milutin Sredojević ( sr-Cyrl, Милутин Средојевић; born 1 September 1969), is a Serbian football manager. Playing career Sredojević formerly played for Svoboda Ljubljana, Sinđelić Belgrade, Grafičar Belgrade, Zorka Suboti ...

, invited him to be included in the

Uganda national football team The Uganda national football team also known as The Uganda Cranes represents Uganda in international football and is controlled by the Federation of Uganda Football Associations. History The Uganda Cranes made their debut on 1 May 1926 against ...

for the

2014 African Nations Championship The 2014 African Nations Championship, known as the 2014 CHAN for short and as the Orange S.A., Orange African Nations Championship for sponsorship purposes, was the 3rd edition of the biennial association football tournament organized by Confed ...

. The team placed third in the group stage of the competition after beating

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. It covers an area of 274,223 km2 (105,87 ...

, drawing with

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

, and losing to

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

Philanthropy

In 2024 Watenga established a foundation in

Nakaloke Nakaloke is a town in Sironko District in the Eastern Region of Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the ...

dedicated to nurturing young, promising athletes. Through this initiative, he has provided football scholarships to children, giving them the opportunity to develop their talents and pursue their passion for the sport.

Career statistics

References

1995 births Living people People from Mbale District Sportspeople from Eastern Region, Uganda Ugandan men's footballers 21st-century Ugandan sportsmen Uganda men's A' international footballers Uganda men's international footballers 2014 African Nations Championship players 2018 African Nations Championship players Men's association football goalkeepers Vipers SC players Ethiopian Coffee S.C. players Sofapaka F.C. players Chippa United F.C. players Mamelodi Sundowns F.C. players Marumo Gallants F.C. players Lamontville Golden Arrows F.C. players Ugandan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Ethiopia Ugandan expatriate sportspeople in Ethiopia Expatriate men's footballers in Kenya Ugandan expatriate sportspeople in Kenya Expatriate men's soccer players in South Africa Ugandan expatriate sportspeople in South Africa South African Premier Division players {{Uganda-footy-bio-stub