Caesar Okhuti

Caesar Okhuti (born 7 October 1990) is a Ugandan coach and retired footballer^[1] widely considered the Best Striker from West Nile. He captained Arua Hill Sports Club from the FUFA Big League to Ugandan Premier League in 2021. Okhuti was part of the Onduparaka FC team that took Ugandan football by storm in 2016 and also helped them get promoted. He once played for Express and KCCA FC^[2] but was loaned back to Onduparaka FC for the 2016/17 season. He won the league with Bunamwaya SC in 2010 and KCCA FC in 2016. Also known as Samson, he was born in Arua on 7 October 1990. With an eye for goal, power, pace, he could shoot from distance with both feet. He retired^[3] from active football on 17 August 2021 after winning the StarTimes FUFA Big League Final with Arua Hill SC. His next venture is coaching which he started at Arua Hill and St. Leo FC.

Senior career[]

He burst onto the national scene in 2007 with a brace for Arua-based Ugandan Super League debutants Ediofe Hills FC against URA FC. He was instantly called to the Cranes by coach Laszlo Csaba putting in a solid performance in CECAFA later that year. The following year, Bunamwaya S.C. bought him for a national record 12 Million Shillings. A back injury in September 2008 laid him off for two months but returned strongly to end the season as third best scorer with 18 goals. He was named in the 2009 African Championship of Nations Uganda squad. He proved his worth by scoring five goals in a single league game as his team demolished Sharing FC 10-1. In 2010, Okhuti helped Bunamwaya win their first USL title.^[4]

On 20 May 2011, Okhuti signed a contract with Xi mang The Vissai Ninh Bình in Vietnam's V.League 1 where he scored four goals within three months. He returned in January 2012 to play for Bunamwaya. During the exciting end to the season, defending champions URA FC and Express FC were tied atop the league table with 51 points. Okhuti's club was only one point behind but had to face URA which had beaten Bunamwaya 1-0 in the Bell Uganda Cup tournament the preceding month at Pece Stadium in Gulu. A win for Bunamwaya and anything less than a win for Express would make the 2010 champs repeat their unprecedented feat. Caesar scored the late winner in a 1-0 victory but Express won their game 2-1 against BIDCO. So, Bunamwaya settled for second and rebranded to Vipers.

Personal issues and injury niggles kept Caesar unheard of in 2013. Okhuti joined South Sudan's El Nasir and was supposed to play the whole of 2014 but didn't.

He came back home to help Arua-based Onduparaka FC get promotion in the Ugandan Big League.

In the 2016 Azam Uganda Premier League, Okhuti became a Red Eagle and led in scoring as Express remained unbeaten at the start of the season. He said, "The Most Important Reason why I went to Express is that it's a place where you can express yourself." He was named Player of the Month in September 2015.

On Saturday 5 December 2015 at Addis Ababa Stadium in Ethiopia, Okhuti fiercely headed in the only goal against Rwanda to win a record-extending 14th CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup for Uganda. It was the fourth time Uganda had defeated Rwanda in the final (2003, 2009, 1011, 2015) and first time Uganda's Serbian Coach Milutin "Micho" Sredojevic had won it, having lost four years behind to Uganda while coaching Rwanda. Caesar scored three goals in the tournament like his captain and St. Mary's Kitende old boy Farouk Miya.^[5] Okhuti attributes his comeback to "change of attitude". His head won the cup,^[6] but Okhuti modestly thinks he is not good at heading. It was his second CECAFA (Council for East and Central African Football Associations) Cup win.^[7]

On course to revamp his career, Okhuti was included in the Cranes squad for CHAN 2016.^[8]

As a free agent, he swapped his Express jersey for bitter rivals KCCA FC based in Lugogo. In September 2016, KCCA loaned him for six months to Onduparaka, the newly promoted side from Arua. FUFA cleared him to play for Onduparaka on 28 September 2016 and three days later he scored once in a 4-3 win over SC Villa. Caeser has made appearances in double figures for Onduparaka FC and scored as many goals in the process including spectacular ones, West Nile sports journalist Vicente Da Costa Jr. of Radio Pacis once branded Caeser "the Best Footballer from Arua ever". Onduparaka FC could end up signing him on permanent basis from KCCA FC at the end of the 2016/17 Azam Uganda Premier League season where Onduparaka finished fifth in their maiden season. He remained there up to 2019.

Okhuti then signed for Arua Hill SC and made his debut against Blacks Power on 25 March 2021 scoring once in a 3-1 win. After captaining the FUFA Big League Invincibles to the Ugandan Premier League with five goals in nine matches, Okhuti won the BL Final at the FUFA Technical Centre in Njeru on 17 August 2021 and retired from playing professional football.

He looks up to Red Eagles legend Hassan Mubiru and Thierry Henry. His Favourite Clubs are Express and Arsenal F.C. plus his Biggest Influence was King Joel, a games master at Mvara S.S (Arua). Caesar is a GOD-fearing and devoted Christian who speaks Lugbara, English, Luganda and Swahili. He studied at St. Joseph's College Ombaci and St. Mary's Kitende.

Okhuti in popular culture[]

LMB Raggs in his song "Hustler" says, "Okhuti nya bolu si, LMB nya mayiki si... [Translated from Lugbara: Okhuti ate through football, LMB ate through the microphone..." He also features in several songs composed about The Caterpillars of Onduparaka FC.

See also[]

• Arua Hill Sports Club
• Ediofe Hills FC
• Express FC
• KCCA FC
• Onduparaka FC
• Vipers SC
• Uganda national football team

References[]

External links[]

• Caesar Okhuti at National-Football-Teams.com
• Caesar Okhuti Signs For KCCA FC