Laryea Kingston says Uganda have more young talents to discover

Former Ghana midfielder Laryea Kingston believes Uganda have more talented young footballers yet to be discovered as he continues to develop the country's youth teams.

Kingston, who has guided Uganda's U-17 side to the 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup and the 2027 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations, says the technical ability of the players aligns with his football philosophy.

“I find myself in the right place. I find myself in the country where most of the players have qualities that fit my style of play. We're looking at players who are comfortable on the ball and are very technical,” he said.

The former Black Starlets coach also compared the qualities of Ugandan players with those of their Ghanaian counterparts, saying their technical ability has made his transition into the role easier.

“Ugandans are not far from Ghanaians in terms of quality. For me, that makes it easy because I'm a Ghanaian, and I know technically Ghanaian players are very good on the ball,” he added.

Despite the progress made under his leadership, Kingston believes there are many more promising players across Uganda who are yet to be identified.

He says building a comprehensive database of young footballers and monitoring their development will be key to unearthing more talent.

The Ghanaian also stressed the importance of organising training camps to assess players, improve their abilities and create more opportunities for their development.

“I know the best is yet to come in this country because, looking at our database, we have only a few kids, but I can see there are better players than the ones we have found,” he said.

“The most important thing is to have a database to monitor all of them and make sure we engage them through training camps, because this is what I learned.”

Kingston recently guided Uganda to victory in the U-17 Africa Cup of Nations CECAFA qualifiers, further strengthening the country's preparations for the upcoming global tournament.

Uganda are preparing for the 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar, where they have been drawn in Group B alongside South Korea, Ecuador and New Caledonia.