| Sadat Anaku | |
| Fullname: | Sadat Happy Anaku Ana |
| Birth Date: | 9 December 2000 |
| Birth Place: | Arua, Uganda[1] |
| Position: | Forward |
| Youthclubs1: | Kampala Capital City Authority |
| Years1: | 2019–2022 |
| Clubs1: | Kampala Capital City Authority |
| Years2: | 2022–2024 |
| Clubs2: | Dundee United |
| Caps2: | 14 |
| Goals2: | 0 |
| Club-Update: | 08:46, 10 April 2023 (UTC) |
Sadat Happy Anaku Ana (born 9 December 2000) is a Ugandan professional footballer who plays as a forward.
Anaku began his career with Kampala Capital City Authority, having set a goalscoring record in the junior leagues. He was signed by Scottish Premiership club Dundee United in August 2022 and played 16 games before being sidelined due to injury in April 2023.
Anaku played in his native Uganda for Kampala Capital City Authority.[2] He was the 2018–19 Juniors League top scorer with 31 goals.[3] He was subsequently promoted to the senior squad after making himself the all-time top scorer of the Juniors League with 84 goals in three seasons.[4] He played in the 2019 final of the Kagame Interclub Cup, which ended in a 1–0 victory over Azam. He set himself a target of 15 goals for the 2020–21 season. However, a licensing issue prevented him from playing in some matches.[5] Head coach Mike Mutebi said that Anaku would be his first-choice striker in the Uganda Premier League after recovering from a hamstring injury.[6]
On 20 August 2022, Anaku signed a two-year contract with Scottish Premiership club Dundee United in August 2022,[7] [8] [9] following a successful trial.[10] Craig Levein said the following month that Anaku's pace would combine well with Steven Fletcher to solve the team's attacking problems which had cost manager Jack Ross his job.[11] His successor, Liam Fox, said that he was happy with Anaku's progress in the first half of the 2022–23 season.[12] Jim Goodwin, who followed Fox as the manager in March, said that Anaku was "very raw" and needed a lot of coaching to utilise his pace and positivity effectively.[13] However, he suffered an Achilles injury in April 2023 and was ruled out for the rest of the calendar year.[14] [15] He did not feature in the 2023–24 season and was one of eleven players released from Tannadice at the end of the campaign.[16]
He had a trial with English club Port Vale in July 2024.[17]
In September 2021, Anaku represented a Ugandan select team on a regional tour,[18] and in February 2022 he represented a Ugandan select team in an exhibition match in Spain.[19] [20] He was called up to the Ugandan senior national team by manager Milutin Sredojevic in March 2023.[21]
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| Dundee United | 2022–23 | Scottish Premiership | 14 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 0 | |
| 2023–24 | Scottish Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Total | 14 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 0 | |||
| Career total | 14 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 0 | |||
Kampala Capital City Authority