When the Uganda Cubs step onto the pitch at the 2025 FIFA U17 World Cup, it won’t just be another match; it will be a defining moment in Ugandan football history – a symbol of pride, belief, and possibility.
Watching closely from the sidelines will be Thomas Thor, the Danish founder of El Cambio Academy, his eyes full of pride and purpose. “This is just the beginning of what could be a good time for Ugandan football,” he says with quiet confidence.
For Thor, soft-spoken but driven, this moment means more than a tournament debut – it’s the reward of faith and hard work.
Nine years ago, he and a small team landed in Masaka with a bold dream: to transform Ugandan football by building from the roots – shaping character, education, and world-class skill in equal measure.
“It’s been nine years now since we came to Uganda and we have fallen in love with the country,” Thor told NBS Sport’s Sport This Morning. “We want to improve the game of football through the academy. Although some people want me to leave, I promise I’m not about to leave.”
At El Cambio, the journey begins early – at just nine years old – and it’s completely free. In a football culture where opportunity often depends on money, Thor’s model flips the script.
The academy scouts young boys from every corner of Uganda, offering training, mentorship, education, and above all, hope.
But hope, for Thor, is only the beginning. “It’s a big challenge in Uganda that we are building these players to fit in our own leagues in Africa,” he explains. “At El Cambio, we are taking it a notch higher – we are targeting Europe.”
He’s bold about what’s coming next. “From El Cambio, we shall have a player or two, or even more, playing in the top leagues in Europe at some stage. I can give you that assurance,” he says without hesitation.
That belief already shines through the new generation of Ugandan players, including James Bogere, the prodigious striker turning heads in Qatar.
“I know this stage brings pressure,” Thor admits. “If pressure mounts on him, that can be a problem, but he can use it to grow his career – he’s the talk around town today.”
Yet for all his optimism, Thor sees Uganda’s greatest challenge as cultural, not technical. “We need to inspire each other for the game of football to develop,” he reflects.
“It’s a challenge that in Uganda, everyone wants to be recognized as the best – not the country being the best.”
That individualism, he warns, can hold back progress. “There are so many positives in us coming to Uganda as an academy,” he adds, “but there are niggles that beat my understanding – jealousy. We seem to be so protective of our own.”
Instead, he dreams of a united football culture that celebrates shared success. And his vision stretches far beyond the pitch.
“We are planning on starting our own school to support the education side of it,” Thor reveals.
“Right now, we have them in different private schools in the country.” Education, he believes, is football’s best teammate – a crucial part of building players who can think, lead, and thrive both on and off the field. It’s a model inspired by European academies but rooted deeply in African realities.
El Cambio’s influence is already spreading. Its players are finding places in national youth teams.
Coaches who once questioned Thor’s approach now study his methods. And the Dane who once arrived as an outsider has become one of the most passionate voices for Uganda’s football future. “This is just the beginning,” Thor insists – and if he’s right, that beginning could shape a new generation rising from the grass fields of Masaka to the grand stages of Europe.
El Cambio means The Change. And that change is no longer an idea – it’s happening right now. Four of its players – James Bogere, Hamuza Sengooba, Isima Magala, and Elvis Torach — are representing Uganda at the FIFA U17 World Cup in Qatar.
Remarkably, all four have started in the Cubs’ opening match against Canada.
Their connection to Europe is already forming stronger roots. “I coached Rasmus Højlund, and when we started El Cambio, I asked him to join as an ambassador – and he accepted,” Thor explains. “Today, he’s in constant contact with these players, especially James Bogere.”
From Masaka to the global spotlight of Qatar, from grassroots dreams to European ambitions, El Cambio is rewriting Uganda’s football story – one player, one pass, one goal at a time. The revolution isn’t coming. It’s already here.
