The UCA Games Committee has communicated to all teams that only 3 foreign players will be allowed for each side on match day. A team can register more than 3 foreign players for the season but only 3 will be allowed to take the field on match day.
The rule which takes effect this season is a copy form the IPL which allows only 4 overseas per match and the premise of this is to promote local talent. This rule will hurt the Asian sides mostly who rely on mostly foreign players for local games and most feel its a direct attack on them.
All Asian sides will be required to provide resident permits or work permits for their players to prove their legibility to player as local players which will require alot of supervision by UCA.
All committee also introduced player registration with passport size photos and all teams without full registration will not be allowed to participate in the 1st round of games.
Any team that misses a game will also be fined a sum of 500,000 shillings a move meant to curb teams from staying away from games that dont interest them. Last season Jinja SSS forfeited their game against Africa Cricket Club (ACC) which had a great impact on the later missing out on promotion to the top flight.
The 2018 season is scheduled to start on 25th March with over 20 teams competing across 3 divisions. There are 3 new sides with 2 of the 3 sides coming from upcountry.
Aziz Damani will be defending its Div 1 title while traditional clubs Wanderers, Nile, ACC and Tornado will be fighting for promotion from Div 2, Kampala Pirates winners of Div 3 last season chose to stay in Div 3 because of preference of Saturday fixtures.