“Thank you for everything ;Gift Fred, you will be missed,” the club said on Twitter.
Gift captained Villa to a third-place finish in last season’s Uganda Premier League where they nearly won the title only to lose the decisive match of the campaign 1-0 to URA on the final day at the Muteesa II Stadium in Wankulukuku. The result saw Vipers leapfrog them to win the title.
He leaves as a free agent following the expiry of his contract at the end of last month.
There were attempts from Villa to convince him to renew his contract but he received weightier offers to end the tree year relationship.
Dennis Namanya, the director of Prosper Sports Agency where Gift is contracted, confirmed to New Vision Sport that the defender signed a three-year deal with Tanzanian champions Young Africans last week.
Gift also penned an emotional farewell to his teammates and the club where he described Villa as a lovely family and thanked them for the good working relationship they enjoyed.
“A lovely family you have been, the fun, competition, comebacks, cooperation and many other good things, I am surely grateful,” he said.
He was Villa’s rock at the back, scoring decisive goals in the title run and being named to the Uganda Premier League team of the 2022/2023 season.
He was also nominated for the best defender of the season in the SUPL awards only to lose to Vipers’ Hillary Mukundane.
He came through the ranks at Kabalega SS in Masindi, from which he joined Booma FC in the Kitara region where he was spotted by Bugema University coach Medhi Nyanzi.
He impressed for Bugema as they settled for a third-place finish in the University Football League in 2019 and from here, Villa signed him on a three-year contract.
