Why Uganda might have the world's most passionate Arsenal fans

Arsenal fans in Uganda partied well into the early hours this week, outside video halls and bars across the country, after their team's stunning victory over Real Madrid.

The north London-based team won 3-0, at home, in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final stage.

Such was the passion, the joy and the adulation shown to midfielder Declan Rice and his free kicks, you would be forgiven for thinking Arsenal was homegrown.

Whenever the club play, the East African nation knows about it. Alongside Manchester United, they are one of the English Premier League (EPL) teams with the biggest support in the country.

Church services, packed with fans decked in the Gunners' red and white colours, have been held before big matches - with prayers offered up for a side that sometimes looks as though it needs divine assistance.

The passion for Arsenal and other English clubs has spawned an entire industry in Uganda, with shops and vendors selling jerseys and bigger companies targeting their advertising around the results, while for sports betting companies it is massive business.

"I have covered football across Africa for many years and I can tell you without a doubt that the soccer enthusiasm in Uganda is on another level," veteran sports journalist Isaac Mumema told the BBC.

For Swale Suleiman, a Manchester United fan and mechanic I met at a garage in the capital, Kampala, the excitement lies in the fact that EPL matches are competitive, entertaining and sometimes unpredictable and even a "small team can cause an upset".

Ugandan fan clubs have been set up for all the top English sides. WhatsApp groups keep the debates going beyond halls and bars.

But Arsenal fans seem to take it to another level - some have even been arrested for holding victory parades without police notice after winning big matches.

However, this type of fandom also has a much uglier side, with the love for the game sometimes turning to deadly violence as tempers flare between rival supporters.

"Our people naturally get attached to something wholeheartedly and Ugandans really love football," Uganda Football Coaches Association (UFCA) chairman Stone Kyambadde told the BBC.

"This soccer fanaticism has even grown stronger with the young generation because they watch the English Premier League from anywhere," he said.

They can keep abreast of scores on their phones, but it is mainly a communal event and even the most remote village will have a makeshift video hall where fans will pack in to watch matches.

But it was for a funeral that villagers near Lake Victoria gathered last December, to bury a 30-year-old carpenter who was shot dead while celebrating Arsenal's victory over Manchester United.

Speaker after speaker lamented the loss of John Senyange, who had been a Gunner all his life.

He had been watching the match in a video hall in the town of Lukaya - and when spontaneous cheering erupted from Arsenal fans after the final whistle, it upset their rivals, including a security guard, who reportedly pulled the trigger.

Earlier in the season, about 300km (186 miles) away in the south-western area of Kabale, Manchester United fan Benjamin Ndyamuhaki was stabbed to death by an Arsenal supporter after the two argued over the results of the epic clash between Arsenal and Liverpool.