Neymar Brace Helps SC Villa End NEC’s 2026 Unbeaten Run in Emphatic Victory

Wednesday, May 20
NEC FC 1-4 SC Villa

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

SC Villa striker Charles Lwanga “Neymar” scored a brace as the Jogoos handed NEC FC their first defeat of 2026 with an emphatic 4-1 victory under the Lugogo floodlights on Wednesday evening.

Charles Lwanga scored twice, while Geoffrey Gaganga and Hassan Mubiru added one goal each for SC Villa. Emmanuel Kulanga netted a late consolation for NEC FC.

With Matchday 29 concluding on Wednesday, NEC FC suffered their first league defeat of 2026 since losing 2-1 to KCCA FC in December 2025.

The defeat also brought an end to NEC’s impressive 17-match unbeaten run, while their streak of 13 consecutive matches without conceding also came to an end on the same evening.

SC Villa made 11 changes from the side that defeated URA FC in the second leg of the Stanbic Uganda Cup semifinals, but the rotated squad still delivered a dominant performance away from home.

The visitors showed attacking intent from the opening whistle and had already tested the NEC defence three times within the opening seven minutes.

Their bright start paid off in the 10th minute when Charles Lwanga Neymar broke the deadlock with a well-taken finish to give SC Villa the lead.

Seven minutes later, Neymar doubled the advantage after capitalising on SC Villa’s high pressing game before Geoffrey Gaganga added a third goal with 10 minutes left before halftime.

SC Villa were reduced to 10 men in the closing stages after Farouk Matovu was sent off for a second booking with seven minutes remaining.

Despite being a man down, the visitors continued to dominate and substitute Hassan Mubiru added the fourth goal to make it 4-0 at Lugogo.

NEC FC eventually pulled one back deep into stoppage time through Emmanuel Kulanga, whose stunning strike was merely a consolation for the hosts and a strong contender for goal of the season.

The 4-1 away victory means SC Villa completed a league double over NEC FC after also defeating them 2-1 in the reverse fixture earlier this season.

SC Villa now move to 58 points in third place, one point behind KCCA FC. Should KCCA fail to beat Mbarara City FC in their final match and SC Villa defeat UPDF FC, the Jogoos could finish the season in second place.

NEC FC remain on 50 points in fifth place. However, if they lose to Calvary FC in their final game and Entebbe UPPC win theirs, NEC could drop to sixth position.

Meanwhile, Vipers SC have already been confirmed as the 2025/26 Uganda Premier League champions, while Calvary FC and Buhimba United Saints have been relegated with one match left to conclude the season.