Undermined by a Few, Wins the Hearts of Many, Yusuf Baliruno’s Lifetime Local Football Legacy Gets a Notable Recognition

By Kayiira Jackson 

For more than four decades, Yusuf “Of Uganda” Baliruno has lived almost every side of Ugandan football — first as a player, then as a journalist, radio commentator, promoter and passionate chronicler of the grassroots game.

Now, the veteran sports journalist has received one of the most fitting recognitions of his long career: a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Real Stars Awards, honouring his contribution to Ugandan sport.

Baliruno was recognised at the September 2026 Fortebet Real Stars Awards held at Molecule Restaurant in Kampala, where he was named the Lifetime Achievement recipient alongside monthly winners in netball, golf and boxing. Real Stars described the recognition as a tribute to his decades of service to the sports industry.

But to tell the story of Baliruno only as a journalist would be to tell only part of it.

His story is also the story of a footballer who understood the game from inside the dressing room, a commentator who carried matches into homes across Uganda, and a media personality who helped give enormous visibility to Buganda and Uganda’s grassroots football competitions.

And nowhere is that legacy more significant than in the Buganda Masaza Cup, Bika Bya Buganda football tournaments and Schools’ tournaments.

From the football pitch to the microphone

Before his voice became familiar to football supporters, Baliruno was a footballer himself.

His playing journey began at school, where he represented Mitala Maria and St Benedict Swaya in Masaka. His talent attracted attention while he was still in Senior Three, leading to an opportunity to join Villa International.

There, he encountered established figures of Ugandan football, including Adam Semugabi, Steven Bogere and Sula Kato.

His career later took him to Bukedi Stars, where he was part of a side that earned promotion to the Super League. He subsequently played for Military Police, again experiencing a promotion campaign, before spells with Kampala UTODA and Mityana UTODA.

Mityana UTODA reached the Uganda Cup final during his time at the club.

He was also trusted with difficult defensive assignments. One of the more memorable challenges of his playing days was being tasked with containing Hakim Magumba, a forward remembered for his pace and ability to trouble defenders.

That background became important later.

Baliruno did not enter journalism as an outsider attempting to explain football to footballers. He had been on the pitch himself.

He knew the pressure of a match, the responsibilities of a defender and the emotions surrounding grassroots football.

That experience eventually became part of the authority behind his commentary.

The Masaza Cup connection

The Masaza Cup was revived by the Buganda Kingdom in 2004, bringing together football teams representing the Kingdom’s 18 traditional counties. It has since grown into one of Uganda’s most prominent grassroots football competitions, combining football with Buganda’s cultural identity and providing a pathway for young players to gain visibility.

Today, the competition has become a major sporting and cultural property.

But the modern Masaza Cup did not become a national phenomenon overnight.

It needed people who could tell its story, promote its matches, take the competition into people’s homes and persuade supporters that county football mattered. Baliruno was one of those people.

The man behind the “Masaza Boy” identity

The connection became so strong that Baliruno acquired the nickname “Masaza Boy.”

The nickname was not merely a radio gimmick.

For supporters, his voice became part of the soundscape of Buganda football.

Baliruno’s contribution belongs to that formative era — when the tournament needed visibility, credibility and an audience.

It is therefore difficult to discuss the history of the modern Masaza Cup without acknowledging the broadcasters and promoters who helped turn county football into a mass cultural event.

Baliruno was one of the most recognisable voices in that process.

Bika Bya Buganda: another part of the legacy

The same is true of the Bika Bya Buganda football tournament.

Baliruno was regularly associated with the competition in his work with CBS FM.

For a generation of football followers, such tournaments were among the places where community football, Buganda identity and sporting ambition met. Baliruno was frequently there — reporting, commentating, promoting and connecting the competition with listeners.

A career that travelled beyond Buganda

Baliruno’s broadcasting career eventually extended beyond Buganda competitions.

He became a familiar voice on major Ugandan football assignments and international matches.

His career therefore stretched from local and cultural football to national competitions and international assignments.

A lifetime spent telling Uganda’s football story

At the Real Stars ceremony, Baliruno said the recognition was deeply meaningful because it showed that his influence on football had finally been noticed.

The award, however, is more than a personal honour.It is recognition of an era.

An era when radio was the most powerful way of taking football beyond the stadium.

 

And an era when a former footballer could take the knowledge acquired on the pitch and turn it into a career explaining the game to millions of listeners.

His Lifetime Achievement Award may have come in 2026. But the contribution it celebrates began many decades earlier.