South Sudan’s Bright Stars have held Ugandan Cranes to zero-zero draw in a historic first competitive match played at Juba Stadium this evening.
The first leg tie of the CHAN 2018 qualifier which allows only home-based national team players to participate became the first competitive match played between South Sudan and neighboring Uganda.

Uganda’s national football team first played South Sudan in a friendly match on 10 July 2012 as part of South Sudan’s Independence festivities. The friendly match against Uganda in Juba was the first South Sudan’s full international match. The match ended in a 2–2 draw, with James Moga and Richard Justin Lado scoring for South Sudan. This match resulted in South Sudan entering the FIFA rankings at the start of August in 199th place.

In today’s tie, Gudele Football Club goalkeeper Khamis Daniel who replaced first national goalkeeper Juma Jinaro saved the day when blocked the penalty at the 53rd minute of the game.

The Bright Stars performance was applauded by the observers as South Sudan is ranked 143rd in world and 44th in Africa and Uganda ranked 74th in the world and 15th in African rankings by world football governing body FIFA.

The second leg of the game will be played in Kampala, Uganda on 22 July 2017 at Philip Omondi Stadium, Lugogo.